Tracking in Schools

Research Paper # 69216

Education
Education > Jr High/High School

Tracking in Schools

This article discusses the act of tracking within the school system. The writer looks at the comparison of arguments for and against tracking.

1,130 words () | 3 sources | APA | 2006 United States

Paper Summary:

This report looks at tracking in schools and answers several mandated assignment parameters about tracking. It is a practice that has continued in US schools throughout most of the 20th and into the 21st centuries. This concerns a system of categorizing and separating students based on perceived ability during the time in which students are in the classroom environment. Tracking is supported as a status quo in education, particularly in large public schools. The practice is basically dualistic because there are some tracks like the gifted program that are progressive for the students, and other lower tracks that are not as progressive and may be in fact regressive for them.

From the Paper:

"Important arguments in this context are whether or not tracking is an effective strategy, or whether it is the same as labeling students early and then holding them to these expectations. Other related arguments are related to questions of what the difference is between impulsive and reflective cognitive styles in students who are in high tracking and low tracking programs.
The argument against tracking involves how every student is different and therefore needs something different from the educational experience. Many students have challenges that they need to meet and sometimes the traditional way of looking at intelligence through IQ scores and academic achievement is not the whole picture for them."