Homogenous and high performing classes : the case of optimal classes

Students enter schools with different levels of reading literacy and this study concentrated on the school's influence on students' subsequent development in reading literacy. The question is whether teacher and school characteristics, by themselves, have a systematic influence on the development of students' reading literacy. It has been and continues to be a goal of schools, in tandem with social policies, to compensate for student disadvantage arising form the out-of-school environment. Schools should not therefore aim to offer uniform educational opportunities to students without regard to differences in students' background and learning profiles. This article demonstrates it is classes where the teacher tailors his or her support to the needs of the individual student that achieve a high level of overall performance. Findings of a study drawing on data from two German samples from the Reading Literacy Study (RL), organised by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) are reported. [Introduction, ed]