In the continual pursuit of classroom learning effectiveness, researchers and educators aim to develop strategies that improve student performance and learning. One such strategy is to create academically homogeneous environments where students are grouped into classes based on their preconceived academic ability. The research team tests this common assertion through an experiment at The United States Military Academy at West Point. Students are placed in either ability- or randomly grouped sections of the academy's mandatory introduction to probability and statistics course, where their ability projections are based on mathematical modeling of a student's historical academic performance. A quantitative analysis of student performances across major graded events indicates that there is not a significant difference in student performance between ability- and randomly grouped sections. This is the first robust experiment of this nature at the undergraduate level and provides useful insight to educators and administrators alike.
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