blog #9 - tracking students

Fairness of Grouping.

In the article "Tracking: Why Schools Need To Take Another Route", Jeannie Oakes talks about the good, the bad, and alternatives of tracking (a.k.a. grouping). Oakes argues that schools need to change the way they teach. She believes that students do not get equal opportunities with tracking. The practice of tracking does help teachers a lot with targeting all of their students specific needs but there are more unnoticed disadvantages. Her biggest point is how poor and minority students (low ability group students) do not get the same benefits that other, higher ability group students do. Students who are in higher ability groups, have better access to materials and richer school experiences which will lead them to better access to colleges and careers. 

"Students in the low-ability classes were likely to have little contact with the knowledge and skills that would allow them to move into higher classes or to be successful if they got there."

I believe this quote is a really strong point. Students who don't receive equal access to sources and materials are held at a disadvantage. Being in a low ability group, students are held back from getting ahead or into college prep classes. this may limit them from the material they see. even though tracking is used as the most controversial practice, students can lose their opportunities if say they were to move from one district to another. Personally I've seen both in secondary school and in college that a student can be in a higher class at their old school and then put into lower classes in their new school because the grouping in each district are at different levels. 

Side thought: when reading this article I felt it connected to a majority of the other articles that we've read in class. one article that popped in mind was the Kristof article. in a section of his article he had mentioned how most people in lower classes don't get much of an opportunity to success as people who are already in the higher class. this related a lot to when Oakes brought up how low track students in secondary school are typically in low ability groups in elementary school. Without any changes, there will always be some sort of unequal boundary. 

Question: do you believe that tracking should be taken away or do you believe there are more benefits than to it?