Flexible Grouping
Overview
Flexible grouping is a classroom practice that temporarily places students together in given groups to work together, with the purpose of achieving a given learning goal or activity. These groups are adaptive and can account for children's changing needs and interests, based on teacher observation, formative assessment, and student feedback. Encouraging students to move flexibly between groups allows them to bring their own strengths to the class and gives them the best opportunity to be able to learn with and from each other to strengthen Collaboration and Social Awareness and Relationship Skills among students. Flexible grouping is a foundational instructional strategy that supports all students, including multilingual learners, and has been specifically identified as a high leverage practice due to its effectiveness for students with disabilities. Flexible grouping allows students with disabilities to participate in the classroom along with their peers, showcase their strengths and learn from other students with intentionality, while allowing for variability of strengths across content areas and contexts. To be effective, groups require clear structure and directives, a balance of homogeneity and heterogeneity to cater to individual student needs, and used in combination with research-based practices.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Watch how this teacher uses flexible seating to facilitate flexible grouping in a high school classroom. By providing students with a range of seating options, they are given an active role in group formation leading to more personalized learning experiences.
Design It into Your Product
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
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