I am totally against tracking and the studies supporting the positive effects of heterogeneous grouping support my argument. The one complaint that I have as a teacher is as follows: if we are to teach heterogeneous classrooms, provide us with the tools to do so. As a middle school teacher, I attend meetings that stress tiered assignments to meet the needs of diverse learners in one class room. I agree that this benefits the students, however we are given little to no help accomplishing this. I am sure the longer you teach, the more time you might have to devote to the creation of tiered assignments, but as a new teacher, time is a precious and almost non-existent thing. I speak for middle grades, but the middle school philosophy can and should (in my opinion) extend to secondary education teachers. I wish that our classes at ASU would focus on strategies to help us teach to a diverse classroom. The scientific research proves that it is beneficial to have inclusion so why dont we devote some time to strategies that will help the teachers teach to heterogeneous classes.

Oh, and another point...I teach heterogeneous classes currently, and the students are aware of tiered assignments in the classroom as well. Sometimes the students complain that it is unfair and there is a sense of inequity in the classroom (even though you as a teacher are trying to help all of the students). All around, the idea of meeting the developmental and cognitive needs of students is a difficult task and one that needs more research and more strategies to be successful .