School Tracking

"Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route" Jeannie Oakes

Oakes' Argument:
Oakes argues that tracking should be in all schools because it allows teachers to target certain individuals in the classroom. Many teacher find this a helpful way of figuring out a students needs (equity). Others find tracking to be stereotypical-- students are grouped by being "less-able" and put into a different class or even put in a different part of the classroom.

Quotes:

• "In low-ability classes, teachers seem to be less encouraging and more puntitive, placing more emphasis on discipline and behavior and less on academic learning."

High-ability classes have better instruction. The teachers spend more time on learning and less time on discipline. The teachers are enthusiastci. The students tend to trust their teacher. If there is trust, then there is more time spent on learning. However, on the opposite side of the spectrum is the low-ability classroom. The atmosphere here is not a postive one. The students interefere with the teacher, making him/her spend their whole time creating order and discipline.

• "Unless students are similar in learning 'speed', such a curriculum racing horrendous problems of pacing."

In the classroom, there are always going to be some students who acell and learn at a fast pace. Then, there are other students who learn a little slower. For these students it becomes humiliating to be retaught by the teacher. During this re-teaching period, the fast paced learners have to be occupied by "busy work" in order to resist boredom.

The curriculum that Oakes is writing about is the material taught that requires prior knowledge from the students. It is obvious to know that not everyone and/or their parents ever taught them this prior knowledge. So, I can imagine the difficulty in trying to mix students who do have prior knowledge, with those who do not. It becomes frustrating.

• "Students need not be held back from ideas because of skill differences; rather they can acquire skills as they become ready."

I agree with Oakes because not everyone is ready at the same time. As teachers, we should not hold back on new ideas--"challenging, complex, related to real life, and rich with meaning". These students have the right to know and it is up to them when they will process and become ready for this information.

In order to spread these ideas, Oakes suggests creating an active classroom environment, where the students work together. The material needs to be taught with the abilities of the whole class. Some stratgeies Oakes points out are teaching through thinking, discussing, writing, and visualizing. This makes all the students able to comprehend material. Through real world problems, students venture away from the "abstract world of 'school'".

Comments:

Working with the students from VIPS, I notice that when I go over to one of the students desks and ask if they need help, they sheepishly shy away from me. When I do actually get the chance to help them, they feel timid and unsure. My intentions are by no means to humiliate the students, I just want them to comprehend the material. I can see where Oakes is coming from when he writes about the horrendous problems of pacing. I think that schools should track its students that way the children can learn in the best possible way. I know that it is controversial, but so what? Maybe the parents should allow their children to be placed in special classrooms, in order to acheive greatness. :)