A lot of debate about closing the achievement gap and segregation within schools has to do with academic tracking. Academic tracking "can be defined as the placement of students into courses based on their performance in standardized achievement tests and/or IQ tests and in previous courses in the same discipline. In simpler terms according to the Applied Research Center: 'Tracking is the practice of placing students in different classes based on perceived differences in their abilities. '(Tonya Gray, http://www.psparents.net)" Usually, tracking starts in at a very young age in a child's educational career, usually around the second or third grade. Although each child is supposed score a certain percentage on a "special" test to gain admittance into the tracking program, many do not. Through talking to a lot of kids that were placed the program, I have learned that most people just remember being told that they would go to a different class at some point within the day. This illustrates that the lines for getting into the program are not only murky, they do not always apply; when there is no standardized way of testing across the board, certain individuals are looked over, and in this country it is usually the minority students that receive the brunt of the blow.
Although tracking does serve great purpose, and is useful for many students, it is detrimental to some. In most schools, students that are "smart" enough to participated in advanced courses are dubbed gifted. The most widely practiced program for tracking is the AIG, or Academically Intellectually Gifted. This name in of itself discriminates against students that are not in the advanced track. The name "Gifted" creates feelings of superiority and inferiority. How is kid expected to feel and/or react when they are told that they are not gifted. Along with just the psychological effects, it creates de facto segregation within the school. The gifted classes begin to be seen as classes that are meant for the white students, in most cases only white students are placed in the higher tracts, and the remedial classes are seen for black students. Inadvertently, schools have created a system that keeps the races apart by directing them down paths consisting of people who are mostly the same race as them. This only perpetuates further problems by decreasing interracial interaction, limiting friendships, and causing blacks to feel that they can not achieve.
UPDATE: Please look at the comment section of this post, it's quite interesting, and claims are backed up.
About Me
- Ashton
- Southeast, United States
- My name is Ashton, and I am a researcher at a major research university in North Carolina. I am extremely interested in the debate on closing the achievement gap between minority and majority students. There are many different views on this topic. I believe that if this problem is solved, we further promote equality in United States
3 comments:
After reading your post I am left with a little confusion. Is tracking a test or special class like AG? I remember my elementary school used EOG scores for reading and math to place students into “an academically gifted class” that met for only an hour once a week. The AG class was very small and my normal class still maintained equivalent ratios of African American students to Caucasian students. I think by just talking to kids that were placed in the program is not enough information to illustrate the “murkiness” of the means of getting into the program. These are only personal experiences that could contain bias. I also feel that there is a lack of evidence to make the conjecture that the minority students “receive the brunt of the blow and are looked over.” What do you mean by this statement? How does the term “gifted” create de facto segregation in schools? What evidence is there for the hypothesis that gifted classes are seen as classes that are meant for white students, and the remedial classes are seen as for black students? I think this is a common misconception and a stereotype. Are you proposing that schools remove any programs for academically advanced students? How does this apply to high schools when students have the option to enroll in honors or AP classes? I see where your going with your post thus far, but I think you would make a stronger point by providing evidence to your claims.
Ashton,
As a student who comes from a very diverse high school, I understand the point you are trying to make. In my hometown they are building a "Charter School" for those students who are academically gifted and whose parents feel that they are not being challenged enough in public school. I think that this idea is ridiculous. This is just a way to widen the achievement gap and expand the segregation of schools. Public schools, especially the one I attended, are essential to growth and development as an individual. They help individuals adapt to the real world and prepare them to deal with all kinds of people. While I do think it is a good idea for students who are academically gifted to be given the opportunity to take more challenging classes, I think that the system is extremely biased. There has to be a way to revise the system in order to give everyone a fair chance.
For more information on the evils of tracking, please feel free to checkout the website http://sitemaker.umich.edu/allen.356/tracking__america_and_england. There, I think you will find data to support what I am saying. Also, the negative effects of tracking limiting interaction between the races can be seen by clicking on the link in the post.
Tracking in and of itself is the process in using test to separate students on the basis of intellect and/or ability. Brooke, how many of your AIG classes had a African Americans in it? How many African Americans were in the classes? Talking to people that are surveyed for a specific question, like how did you get into your AIG classes, is a way that a lot of research is done, and I have conducted actual research in this area, and have come up overwhelming amount of responses that support my stated conclusion. By the comment "and in this country...minority students receive the brunt of the blow," I mean exactly what I said. There is ton upon tons of empirical and qualitative data to support that if any group is discriminate in American schools, it is minority students, without a doubt; even Latino students are showing more gain in closing the gap than African American students. By labeling some kids gifted, you inherently call the other kids un-gifted. This creates de facto segregation between groups because the different groups become separated, and have little interaction.This is proven in the study done my Dr. Carolyn Tyson called "It's Not "a Black Thing": Understanding the Burden of Acting White and Other Dilemmas of High Achievement."
I am suggesting that we consider getting rid of classes that separate groups. Why not get rid of it, and raise the level of education for all students, to have expectations for everyone.
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