About Me

heyy...my names kendra. I'm a sophmore @ ric studying to become an Eled. teacher with a concentration in social studies. I run xc and track for RIC and played soccer my freshmen year. I've been with my boyfriend for 5 years & goin strong haha<3 FYI me and katie are cousins :)so there's a little about me...ttyl

Blog Archive

Monday, March 24, 2008

“Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route” by Jeannie Oakes

Context/Premise:

Schools, teachers, practices, controversy, ability grouping, tracking, students, stereotypes, low-ability groups, gifted students, education, expectations, enrichment, learning and progress.

Argument:

Jeannie Oakes argues that many “educators and parents assert that when schools group by ability, teachers are better able to target individual needs and students will learn more”, however, they also argue that “tracking locks most students into classes where they are stereotyped as less able, and where they have fewer opportunities to learn.”

Evidence:


“Tracking leads to substantial differences in the day to day learning experiences students have at school.”


“Critical thinking and problem solving skills seemed to emerge from the high quality of the course content. Few low ability classes, on the other hand, were taught these topics as skills.”
This quote and many of the sentences which surrounded it described the way in which students were stereotyped or favored depending on whether they were in high ability or low ability groupings. Being in the high ability classes it was as though the students were given more opportunities to strive and obtain higher thinking skills and critical reading/writing skills.

“Students who are placed in high-ability groups have access to far richer schooling experiences than other students.”
This quote directly complies with what I was saying in the statement above. It explains how by tracking students in the higher ability groups gives them an advantage over the low ability students and also loses the average student. Focusing on the higher ability students and letting the lower or averages students slip by or just get by is not providing those students with an expectable education.

“Students in the low ability classes were likely to have little contact with the knowledge or skills that would allow them to move into higher classes or to be successful if they got there.”
By favoring one group of students over another does not allow those students who are not being favored to succeed and enter into the “favored group of students” because they were not given the necessary skills that the higher ability groups of students were being taught throughout their schooling years. It is unfortunate that such a divide should be formed. I was even more discouraged to read that the average students were being lost in all this tracking business.

“Students who need more time to learn appear to get less; those who have the most difficulty learning seem to have fewer of the best teachers.”
Strongly agreed with this statement. Those students who need the encouragement were not getting it and therefore, they were not being given that extra “umph” or motivation to succeed in the academic world.

“Because they’re more likely to fail, they risk more by trying.”
Reading this statement was sad because no student should feel as though they are going to fail and therefore, they shouldn’t try. Trying and failing are lessons which everyone has to learn, however, feeling as though you are going to risk more by trying is something which should not go hand and hand. Trying is essential and sometimes you do fail, but to not try would be worse.

1 comment:

Dr. Lesley Bogad said...

I appreciate how you work out your ideas after each of the evidence points you make. Did our class discussion add to your perspective on this?

LB