A major task involved in teaching pupils is to group them wisely for instruction. Most elementary schools group learners in terms of a self-contained classroom. While it may seem extreme, all curriculum areas on each grade in the elementary school may be departmentalized. In some ways, departmentalization harmonizes more with a separate subjects curriculum as compared to the self-contained classroom approach in grouping pupils for instruction. The controversy continues over homogeneous versus heterogeneous grouping of pupils for instruction in the language arts--each system has advantages. An open-ended approach to grouping pupils is to use learning centers. A dual progress plan in grouping pupils for instruction is generally implemented on the intermediate-grade level. The team teaching approach emphasizes that two or more teachers plan together the objectives, learning activities to achieve these ends, and the evaluation procedures to ascertain how much pupils have learned. Some educators advocate having pupils of different age levels taught in a single classroom. Mainstreaming of pupils has made for an increased amount of heterogeneous grouping of pupils in the United States. Teachers, administrators, and parents need to have an open mind in terms of how learners should be grouped so that each pupil can attain as much as possible in the school curriculum. (RS)