Association between Class Heterogenety and Academic Achievement in Primary School (on the Example of Moscow Schools)

The issue of early differentiation in primary school remains open both in the scientific and pedagogical community. The aim of this work is to identify the association between class composition and academic achievement in cognitive development of primary school students. The object of the study are first year pupils from 15 Moscow schools who were assessed with the iPIPS instrument at the the beginning and at the end of the first grade.   Among the main hypotheses, it is worth noting the hypothsis that the results of students in a homogeneous class will be higher by the end of the first school year, and also the hypothesis of the transformation of a heterogeneous class into a homogeneous class in the end of first grade.   In this paper, the analysis of existing class composition practices is presented; approaches for studying the heterogeneity of the class are examined; a qualitative study of the rules of class composition in Moscow schools is carried out, and the association between class heterogeneity and academic achievement in primary school is studied.