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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

State Board of Ed Discourages "Tracking"

 (A reminder that there is a BOE meeting tonight. Click here for the agenda.)

Last month, the State Board of Education voted to discourage the practice of tracking students by academic ability.

State school board member Theresa Hopkins-Staten and board Chairman Alan Taylor drafted a non-binding resolution to discourage the practice of tracking which passed unanimously.  The state board wants school districts, effective immediately, to report to both parents and the state if they do "track" students into a specific level of courses and to supply the state with the race, ethnicity, gender and socio-economic status of students assigned to each track.

According to an article in the Hartford Courant:  State Board of Education discourages so-called tracking in schools. 
"The intent is not to take issue with instructional-level classes or groups," board member Theresa Hopkins-Staten said. "It's to take issue with the disproportionate number of students of color and low-income students in low-track classes.
The measure is not directed at Advanced Placement or Honors classes according to Department of Education spokesperson, Tom Murphy.
"That's not tracking," he said. "Tracking is when you have an A-team and a B-team and maybe even a C-team and you never leave those teams. You have a different curriculum, a different pace and a different set of expectations."...
"Research says if you are in a heterogeneous classroom where you have students of all levels and experiences, students, particularly students who are struggling, can do better," Murphy said.
According to the Connecticut Post,  two school superintendents -- Joshua Starr of Stamford and Salvatore Pascarella from Danbury -- admitted tracking takes place in the public schools in their respective cities.

The Post story explains that:
tracking was designed to allow students to learn at their own pace and, at one time, follow certain career paths. Some fear that heterogeneous classes slow down and bore the brightest students. But those opposed to tracking say low-level courses leave too many students behind in terms of course content and knowledge, and that most students will rise to the challenge if given the opportunity.
 According to Assistant Superintendent Tony Daddona, "tracking does not play out in Norwalk".

"We are pushing everyone to college," he said.

Mr. Daddona did say that there is an "artificial" track created in math since some student are selected to take Algebra in 8th grade giving them a year head start.  In addition, many honors and Advanced Placement classes have prerequisites.

In high school there are three levels of classes, stanine 5 (average), stanine 8 (above average) and honors.  However, according to Mr. Daddona, students are able to move among these three levels from year to year based on teacher recommendations and grades. 

There is no tracking in elementary and middle school.  There is, however, an academically talented program. 

There is conflicting research on this issue.

A study by the Fordham Institute released in December on tracking in Massachusetts middle schools found that more students at schools with two or three levels of math scored near the top of state math tests than those at schools with only one math track.   The report also finds that detracking is more popular in schools serving disadvantaged populations.
Posted by Moina Noor

7 comments:

  1. Mr. Daddona stated that even though there are three levels in the high schools, it is not tracking because students can move from one level to another.

    First of all, that applies to all tracking systems, even at the elementary level. The more important question is the composition of the different levels at any point in time. That is the question that concerns the state.
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  2. The problem is that while students can theoretically move from level to level, too many of them remain in the same levels for years; some of them remain for all of their school years. The rest of the problem is that too few students of color and even fewer low-income students are in the highest level. The result of all of this is that the wealthiest kids are getting the most challenging instruction. There needs to be a better effort to identify potential among kids so that more are pushed to the highest level. Sometimes teachers' own subjective views about students' abilities and some teachers' arbitrariness about grading are given too much weight, and students' own desires to move up in the ability levels can be disregarded.
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  3. Are all children tested for the AT program in 2nd grade or are they selected by teachers to test as they are in Wilton? It's my understanding that in Wilton, their "gifted" program begins in 1st grade and children are selected by their teachers to test for it. How is this done in Norwalk?
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  4. As far as I know, all students are tested in 2nd grade. Students are selected for AT based on test scores and teacher recommendation. Families are allowed to nominate for their child to get into AT if they aren't selected initially. Check out the AT website for more info: http://www.teacherstech.org/AT/
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  5. Thanks Moina for clarifying.
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  6. All Norwalk students are tested in 2nd grade. This takes place later next month after the CMTs are finished. The DRP, or Degrees of Reading Power, assessment would definitely favor those with strong English language skills. Another test, the Structure of the Intellict (otherwise called "SOI") does not contain this bias. To those who need it, it is administered in Spanish.

    Some of the teachers of the academically talented work with students in grade 1 or 2 who need a challenge. This does not mean that they will automatically be admitted to the AT program.

    Since the program is language arts based, ESL students are at a disadvantage.
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  7. Oops sorry 'Intellect'. Going too fast and don't want the spelling police after me.
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