“If you’re one star, you’ve missed the bar” How ability grouping can perpetuate achievement inequality

In educational contexts around the world, children are often grouped based on their presumed ability. Such ability grouping is believed to benefit all children’s learning, but research shows that it may harm children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Why? We propose a model that offers an underappreciated explanation: essentialism—the idea that groups possess a shared and stable underlying essence. Ability grouping leads both children and teachers to think about ability in fixed and categorical ways (e.g., “Those in the blue group are whiz kids”), creating a culture that discourages children from disadvantaged backgrounds, starting in early childhood. The model identifies ways to implement ability grouping without fostering essentialism (e.g., avoiding group labels, creating heterogeneous groups), thus creating more equitable educational contexts.