The April 2010 Education Update article, "Should Your School Detrack to Close the Achievement Gap?," puts forth two school districts—Stamford and Rockville Centre—that have successfully reduced the number of tracks in their schools without compromising teaching and learning excellence. The article also discusses research that supports and research that questions (see below), the viability of tracking.
Most public schools in the United States are moving away from tracking and grouping students heterogeneously. However, tracking seems to persist with one subject: mathematics. Limited support resources, the quality of students' previous math instruction, and beliefs about the sequential nature of math all complicate the decision to reduce tracking in this subject area. Despite these challenges, Minnesota and California have declared their intent to require universal algebra for all 8th graders by 2011—essentially, detracking 8th grade math statewide.
As with any education reform, there's a big risk associated with poor implementation. Detrack hastily, and you could end up doing more damage than rigid tracking does. High-achieving minority students suffer the most when detracking results in watered-down curriculum for all, says University of Wisconsin-Madison Sociology chair and WCER research director Adam Gamoran, author of the reportTracking and Inequality: New Directions for Research and Practice.
Gamoran gives the example of a school he studied that drew from two different populations: an upper-middle-class community and a low-income, predominately minority community. The school was determined not to use tracking because they felt they would have been dividing students socioeconomically on very sharp lines, in addition to dividing them by academic performance. Instead, they used mixed-ability teaching, which tends to aim at the middle. But because this school was so polarized, there was no middle; therefore, essentially, they were teaching to no one.
Fordham Foundation's research director Amanda Winkler advises schools to get rid of dead-end courses and to re-form tracking so it's more flexible, but to proceed with caution. She adds the caveat that Tom Loveless' studies, The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth Grade Algebra (2008), and Tracking and Detracking: High Achievers in Massachusetts Middle Schools(2009) "should be a yellow light, at least" for policymakers in states like California and Minnesota. Delia Garrity, Rockville Centre School District's (N.Y.) former assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, differs with Winkler. "I understand where the yellow light comes from, but for me, having lived it, I can't see anything but a light that's glaringly green," she says.
Should states lead the charge to detrack or is the decision best left to individual schools and districts? Stamford School District (Conn.) Superintendent Josh Starr concedes some hesitations regarding state policy for algebra for all. "It's a good, broad visionary goal, but some kids might not be ready for it," he notes. Individual schools and districts often have a better handle on their available resources, and the needs of their students and teachers. It also might be that individual districts and schools that have taken up detracking are more connected to the reform's goals and outcomes, as opposed to carrying out a mandate handed down from the state.
