Oakes

Blog Post 9

Quotes

1.  "On the other side, growing numbers of school professionals and parents oppose tracking because they believe it locks most students into classes where they are stereotyped as "less able," and where they have fewer opportunities to learn".

Tracking might seem to favor one group of students over the other and that is why some parents and teachers don't like it. I agree that by tracking all students don't get the same education and advantage as others. But also tracking can help put students in the right classes that they need to be in so it prepares them for higher ability classes if that's what they can handle.



2. "More-over, the nature of these differences suggests that students who are placed in high-ability groups have access to far richer schooling experiences than other students. This finding helps explain, at least in part, why it is that tracking sometimes seems to "work" for high- ability students and not for others".

To students tracking may not seem fair since the higher ability students tend to have more of an advantage than the lower ability students. Every student deserves the same education so it is important for students of different abilities to be together so they all can benefit.

3. " On the other hand, without a positive classroom climate, students spend considerable energy interfering with the teacher's agenda, and teachers must spend more of their time and energy just trying to maintain control".

I agree that sometimes it is hard to have students of mixed abilities together because half the class is on one page while the other half is on another page. The pace is also hard to control but the high ability students could be a model for the lower ability students.

http://www.nea.org/tools/16899.htm