During both literacy and math instruction there are times to promote students working in small groups to address their instructional levels. Clustering is one way to make class placements so that all students have instructional level peers for some of the times they are in small groups addressing specific instructional level needs.

Students who don't have peers at instructional levels beyond grade level expectations often end up working alone. It may mean that the student will work in isolation, feel uncomfortable doing something so different from peers, or not be given the opportunity to work at his/her instructional level at all. The student may develop perfectionist tendencies, elitist attitudes, an inner sense of being different from peers, or poor work habits.

One way to avoid putting a student at risk of experiencing the pitfalls of isolation is to group students for certain instructional objectives. If high performing students are clustered in groups of three to five in classrooms, both teachers and students win. The teacher is more efficient in differentiating for a group rather than for a single student. When students work on lessons appropriate to their learning levels, they may no longer feel isolated and different. They will have an opportunity to be challenged by peers to struggle, think and work hard, all of which help alleviate the problems of perfectionism, elitism and poor work habits.

In summary, all students should have instruction that challenges them to grow to their next level. Grouping can be one effective way to accomplish this.