Social Reproduction Via School Tracking

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Social Reproduction Via School Tracking

• Michael Horner, Natasha Heredia, Kerlin
  Hyppolite, Nick Miller

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John ONeils Interview with Jeannie Oakes

• When I talk about harmful effects of tracking
  and ability grouping, Im talking about all of
  those forms of grouping that are characterized by
  educators making some rather global judgment
  about how smart students are - either in a
  subject field or across a number of subject
  fields. - Jeannie Oakes

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Solutions Oneil

• Equalize academic expectations and teaching
  methods for all students who are not mentally
  deficient or incapable
• Cooperative learning fosters understanding of
  concepts
• Educational norms should begin by assuming that
  all students who work hard can achieve
• Give students a real choice in their education

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Handling At Risk Students

• Labeling students AT RISK is a self fulfilling
  prophecy that sets them up for failure
• Transforming reading lessons into a series of
  "skill drills" ( for basic skills kids) makes
  reading more difficult for students by depriving
  them of the opportunity of reading in context.
• The "At Risk" label has become an effective
  license for those in leadership roles outside the
  classroom to wrestle control ofcurriculum from
  teachers and students.

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Solutions Handling at Risk Students

• Get kids to think critically
• Read aloud to them in context
• View teaching from an intellectual, not a
  technical approach
• Set the same goals for the entire class while
  paying attention to individual needs
• Establish a dialogue

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No Child Left Behind and Racial Inequality

• Politics affects school funding using high stakes
  testing
• Ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected
  due to non-academic factors
• Cultural disparities in linguistics in
  non-dominant cultures puts minorities at a
  testing disadvantage
• Undeserved remedial disadvantages hurt students
  who are academically capable, but not culturally
  enabled

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Solutions No Child Left Behind

• Create a student portfolio
• Remedial classes based on academics, not behavior
• Remove high stakes/high pressure testing or
  modify them to meet cultural differences

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Solutions to Tracking

• Promote children's learning in families and
  communities.
• Make teachers culturally aware
• Early care and education programs and elementary
  schools should involve parents in their services
  to children.
• Educators should apply the same standards of
  academic performance to virtually all students
  and use every available method to ensure that
  each student meets them.

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Citations

• ONeil, John (1992). On tracking and Individual
  Differences. A Conversation with Jeannie Oakes,
  Educational Leadership v. 50 no. 2 pp. 18-22.
• Townsend, Brenda L. (2002) . Testing while black
  Standards-Based School Reform and African
  American Learners, Remedial and Special
  Education. Volume 23, Number 4, 232-230.
• Education Digest (1996), Vol. 62 Issue 3, p4,
  5p, 1 cartoon
• (1989)Teaching Inequality The Problem of Public
  School Tracking. Harvard Law Review. Vol. 102
  Issue 6, pp.1318-1324