Educational Issue: Tracking

Chrissy and Justin presented the issue of tracking in schools, which is the practice of placing students with others of similar skills or needs. The three types of tracks or "ability groups" that we typically refer to are high, middle, and low. They presented the positive and negative features of tracking and how it affects students. Students are usually surrounded by peers of their own intellectual abilities or talents for every class, which makes the classroom less diverse. They found that there is a high correlation between factors such as race and socioeconomic status and ability level in school. Some suggestions to minimize negative effects and maximize positive effects in a tracked system include minimizing conspicuous nature of labeling students, retain flexibility in terms of groups selection, and monitor student achievement closely. I enjoyed the two videos the group used because they both were great examples of tracking and the affects it has on students. I never really thought of tracking as a type of separation between students. This is probably because in high school I took CP and Honors classes depending on the class, so I was with a variety of people all day.