The Blue Blog

The original writing by Chris can be found at:

 http://cbauer.edublogs.org/2006/02/08/brophy-class-reading-rebuilding/

I would like to respond to Chris Bauer’s comments on how tracking could be used in schools to separate students by abilities.  While I do think that it is important to challenge each student according to their abilities, I am not sure that using tracking methods with high, middle, and low tracks would serve the needs of the students effectively.  My first argument would be that there are many different kinds of ability- artistic, mathematical, social, etc.- and that we should not be placing students in a high or low track if they will not be challenged in the area that they excel in.  If a student is a gifted writer but struggles in other subjects, placing them in a low track would not give them the opportunity to develop their writing talent by receiving challenges, and it may make their self-efficacy in the other areas decrease if they feel that they are being categorized as someone who can’t do well in other subjects.  Instead, I think that students should work with their parents and teachers, as well as those teachers who teach courses they are interested in, to decide which courses will challenge their abilities in each subject instead of making a decision about being in a low or high track.

That being said, I do not think that all tracking programs would be ineffective.  Schools that have tracks which provide opportunities to explore career options could be very helpful for those students who want to start thinking about what they would like to do after high school.  Having classes specifically to challenge lower-achieving and higher-achieving students, however, is something that I think we should move away from.  By no means should we leave students who need extra help on their own with no guidance, but I think that help can be administered in a classroom of students with varied abilities.  Only so many separate classes can be created within one school, and the possibility of being able to make several versions of the same class that are all focused on a certain ability level could be quite difficult.