Emphasis on tracking and ability grouping as sources of inequality and as goals for reform ignores processes of stratification within heterogeneous classrooms. Research literature on effects of classroom status inequality is reviewed. The article presents a test of two interventions derived from expectation states theory and designed to counteract the process of stratification in classrooms using academically heterogeneous small groups. The design focuses on variation in the frequency with which teachers carried out status treatments in 13 elementary school classrooms, all of which were using the same curriculum and the same system of classroom management. There was good support for the hypotheses that the use of status treatments would be associated with higher rates of participation of low-status students and would have no effect on the participation of high-status students. Analysis at the classroom level revealed that more frequent use of these treatments was associated with more equal-status interaction.

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This is a study of assessment of the work of creative problem-solving groups in sixth-grade social studies. We test the proposition that providing students with specific guidelines as to what makes an exemplary group product (evaluation criteria) will improve the character of the discussion as well as the quality of the group product. To assess the group's potential for successful instruction, we examine the character of the group conversation as well as the quality of the group product. We present a statistical model of the process of instruction that connects the use of evaluation criteria, group discussion, creation of the group product, and average performance on the final written assessment.

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