Report Outline
Special Focus
Introduction
Tracking students into separate classes by ability perpetuates social and racial inequality without providing any educational benefit, according to recent educational research. Opponents of tracking are trying to convince schools that even high achievers will benefit from new teaching approaches designed to educate all students together. But many parents and educators remain skeptical that untracked schools will be sufficiently stimulating for the best students, and most public schools still use some form of tracking or ability grouping.
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Overview
Can schools realistically provide the same education to all children, despite huge differences in their grasp of the English language and in their attitudes toward school and work? If they don't provide the same education to all, are they consigning children of the poor and minority groups to the bottom rung of the social ladder forever? If they do mix children of varied abilities together, will they cut off the opportunities for high-level achievement by those children ready to excel?
These questions form the crux of the debate over tracking—separating students in classes according to their supposed abilities. The questions are not new. Like tracking itself, they have been in existence since universal public education became common, around the turn of the century. And the debate has always been held on both the social and the educational levels. |
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