Tracking: by Jeannie Oakes
This article was short and to the point. I will say that I have some mixed emotions on this subject, although after reading the article I can see why the author feels strongly against tracking. As a parent I have a tendency to see it as a positive teaching strategy for my own children because when they are grouped by ability they are given the oppurtunity to work without the interuptions that the the author talked about in the low level classes. I personally know several public school teachers and a couple of them have said that in a 50 minute class periode their actual instruction time achieved is about 30 minutes due to interuptions. I dont think this is the best way way to serve our higher performing students. I dont feel getting rid of tracking is the answer, I feel that providing better quality and more enriching education for the lower level students is a beeter way to go. Teachers shouldnt assume that those students aren't capable of producing high quality work and therefor should raise the standards for these students. I think the more I read the article the more I flip flop between agreeing with her and opposing her views.
1)Few widespread schooling practices are as controversial as ability grouping and tracking. I picked the opening as a quote to comment on because I think people have opinions on this and can back it up with ligitimate reasons, but then you have a child of your own and sometimes the opinion that you you had changes because you see the actual effects on learning from the inability to make heterogeneous classrooms work at their highest potential for ALL students.
2)The achievment gaps we observe among students of differing abilities are exacerbated by the failure of classrooms to provide all students with the time, opportunities, and resources they need to learn. Not all children learn at the same pace or need the same resources for learning which is another reason that I dont totally oppose tracking.
3) Unless teachers have the time and the autonomy to deliberate about, develop, and experiment with fundamental changes in school organization and classroom practices, alternatives to tracking are unlikely to be intelligently concieved, enthusiastically endorsed, or successfully implemented. This is the big picture. Until we as whole in this country put education on the top of the list of priorities, we are going to continue to struggle with a system that is failing to provide our students with the most enriching, challenging , thought provoking education that they all deserve and need to be successful in their future.
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5 comments:
When you are a teacher, would you apply "tracking" practices in your classrooms? Do you think it depends on the children in the class?
I agree with you in "flip flopping" throughout the article. I was seeing it as a "veteran" of a tracking school system so I was trying to base my opinion off my exerpiances and friends' experiances but it was just difficult because I was also trying to look at it from a "teacher" perspective.
I defnitely agree too. I was in the higher ability classes all throughtout high school and i feel as if my peers in those classes would have been kept behind by being mixed with lower ability students who just didn't care about their learning or grades. However I believe that in lower grades such as elementary schools if children understand the rules and codes of power that the teachers wouldn't have to deal with those interruptions causing a lecture do be done in 50 minutes rather than 30. Do you agree? I feel as if students could be mixed more in elementary school than in high school when they are more mature.
Shannon, great post! I agree with you stance. I too have mix feelings on tracking, as I stated in my posts. There are many reasons students are on different levels and are at a different place in their education. And to say that solving the educational problem is by lumping every student together, then there are serious issues. Could mixing hold back higher level students? Create burdens for lower level students who cannot keep up? I think it's probably rather difficult to adhere to every child's level. If we ended tracking, maybe we might as well just stop grading while we're at it. It's like infants who reach milestones at a different age than another infant. Children progress individually, so we might need different levels to help their progressions.
would tracking be affective for your class when you become a teacher? would you use it?
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