Student Tracking

The United States of America has a long and complicated history of segregation and inequality. Though the country has fought fiercely to redeem itself by eradicating the practice of inequality in many areas, there are still some concerns that remain. These concerns are present in the public education system, and relate to the time-honored practice of educators to group and educate students by their ability level. This paper will discuss how students historically have been classified based on ability tracking and grouping, the legal issues created by this classification, and what the Constitution requires in order to maintain equal protection rights for all citizens.

Walter Fields, a New Jersey parent seek to enroll his daughter into an upper-level math class. Being African American, that proved to be a challenge, when his daughter was denied and placed into a lower-level course. She didn’t get the required recommendation from a teacher to enroll in the class. This sparked fire into Mr. Fields along with his wife, that led to a petition with the school’s principal to grant their daughter access to an upper-level class. By what is called “tracking” in the South Orange Maplewood School District, is a system created to hold many African American and Latino students behind from more advanced courses, even if they receive the grades

While reading the text, Lives on the Boundary I was deeply moved by the exposure of the American educational system’s failure to treat all students equally despite economic and racial backgrounds. The book opens with the author highlighting his personal experience with educational tracking, which is the implementation schools use to place students into different educational paths whether that be the advanced, general or remedial path. Rose (1989) states how tracking affected his education from early on in his life,

Recently there has been a lot of debate about the importance of college education. Students are asking if it’s worth the debt to attend a four year university or community college. Some are thinking what are the benefits of a degree is in the workforce. With college tuition increasing and state fundings lowering, low income students are struggling to attain a higher education. College institutions should have a role to provide students higher education and equal opportunity to students to increase social mobility yet intergenerational reproduction of privilege has produced inequality in education.

The educational system has been around for thousands of years, and throughout time, there have always existed equality issues. From girls not being able to attend school as far as the boys, to children being separated into different schools because of the color of their skin, equality in education is an issue that has plagued humanity for far too long. Throughout the years, there have been some important decisions made in an effort to afford equality in education. Perhaps, as we move forward in our thinking and beliefs, we may find a way to make education a right that everyone who has the desire to grow through knowledge should be afforded, regardless of circumstance.

The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.

America’s education system is one of the most respectable, reputable and sought after commodities in our society, but it is also the most overcrowded, discriminatory, and controversial system ever established. Most people yearn for a higher education because it 's what 's expected in this society in order to get ahead. It means a better job, more money, power, prestige and a sense of entitlement. But this system has let down the children that are supposed to benefit from it. Education discriminates against minorities, and poorer class students are not expected nor encouraged to attain a higher education. The education system is set up to ensure that every child get a basic

School tracking is currently a subject of debate in education policy. On the one hand, tracking has been shown to have negative effects on lower tracked students and widen the achievement gap, while on the other hand, tracking is currently implemented in most schools. As teachers, we must find a way to deal with this dichotomy. In this paper, I will discuss how tracking has influenced my education as a white, middle class, honors student, as well as the negative effects of tracking in schools and how my experiences and identity will enable me to combat the negatives of tracking in my future classes.

Education is the factor in our society, or any society for that matter, that allows people to strive for their chances of equality, or better yet, greatness in a convoluted world belonging to both marginalization and wealth. However, at the same time, many people are being forced to miss out on their chances for an education and the opportunities that come with it. If we improve the opportunities for education, we also stand to diminish troublesome income disparities. Such a course of action is something that depends on the school districts and the resources that are available to them. If one takes a look back at the history of education in our country, they could undoubtedly see challenges to education access and how far the United States has come since then in providing said access. The positive development has seen increased education access for demographic groups ranging across four specific categories: ethnics, race, gender and one 's place in the class system.

According to Nielsen (2013), in the United States, the government has been working hard in the due process of providing education to the children in the country. Despite the efforts that have been initiated by the United States education department, there is a problem of equity in education access around the nation. There are a good number of students who do not have the same opportunities as others when it comes to the education sector. For instance, in most cases, the quality of education that a student will get depends with their social class in the community. Those with a weak living condition are less likely to have the same quality of education as those who belong to the wealthy families. Therefore, the importance of equity, issues with sameness and the strategies suggested by Natalie (2013) and the report by the equity and excellence commission will form the basis of discussion for this paper.

     Will Durant, a businessman and the founder of General Motors, once said, “Education is the transmission of civilization.” Unfortunately, education is still one of the most deliberated and controversial issues in the United States. Thus far, the privilege or right to receive education has not attained the level of equality throughout the nation; poor districts obtain less educational funding while rich districts obtain more, creating an immense gap between the quality of schools in poor and rich areas.

The second assumption tracking makes is that the practice is equitable, accurate and appropriate. The third assumption claims student affect will be negatively impacted if they are placed in inclusive groups with higher performing classmates. The last assumption claims teachers prefer tracking as an instructional strategy because they prepare for and teach only one ability-level at a time. Many studies have been carried out to prove or disprove the effectiveness of tracking and analyze any related social impacts. Following is a review of research for both sides of the debate.

Tracking is a system that schools used to split students up into different groups based on perceived academic abilities. Usually the groupings consist of above average, average, and below average. Students take

From the day you started school you were tracked. All your work was monitored, your intelligence “measured”, your behavior categorized. This sounds like something out of a dystopian novel, however it is done in almost every school across the U.S. This process of classifying students by ability into a caste-like system is called tracking. It deals with people being taught with those of decided like ability. Though this may seem proficient on the surface, its roots are much different. Racism plays a major role in track placement, it creates a superiority complex, it can perpetrate ableism, and perhaps the most astounding reason, there is no evidence it works. Because of these and several other reasons, I am against tracking. Ability is

Schooling involves numerous activities involving the learners, teachers, and the parents. Each of these groups often has distinct practices. For the teachers, one of their practices in schools is tracking of the students, a practice that has been there since time immemorial. It is an old practice and one deemed necessary by the school administration and other parties, especially the parents. Jeannie Oakes defines tracking as the division of students into distinct classes for high, average, and low achievers. In other cases, the students are grouped as fast, average, or slow. Whichever the case, tracking implies the practice of grouping the students depending primarily on their academic performance and