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 Tracking and Ability Grouping 
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After reading our articles I began to wonder how many people had high and low tracking in middle school. In 7th and 8th grade I had high and low tracks for math and English. It was obvious to all of the students who was in the smarter class and who was in the "slower" class. All of the students talked about it, and it began to put up a wall between the two classes. I had many friends who were in the "slower" class and they felt that the teachers did not care as much about them. I can see how tracks could be a good idea for academics to help each student, however I feel that most times it only harms the students that actually need help. I was wondering what everyone else's experiences have been with tracking and ability grouping.

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Darcy Alexander


Sun Jan 30, 2005 1:04 pm
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The reading this week also got me thinking along these same lines as well. There was definetly tracking in my schools throughout my education and like Darcy said most children were very aware of where they stood. I believe that tracking and ability grouping can be very detrimental to students. As we read from the article most of the lower tracks continue to fall further and further behind. These students also have a lower self-esteem due to this. Is there a way for us as teachers to do this in a way that seperates the kids but they don't necessarily know they are on the "low track". For instance I know a teacher who has reading groups in their classroom and each child is reading a different novel based on their reading level. Is this ok or is this basically still ability grouping? Maybe the better answer is in the heterogenous grouping? In thinking about all this, I believe it would be hard to make sure everyone is being taught to at their level; this means no one is left behind and no one is being bored by material they already know. This is a difficult question and one we should all be thinking about as future teachers.

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Ryan Hicks


Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:33 am
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I have mixed feelings regarding the notion of tracking. On the one hand, I support it because it encourages more advanced students to take harder classes and challenge themselves. On other hand, the moderately advanced students feel left out or left behind in some regards. I do, however, recognize that students who wish to take lower intensity classes may be some of the smartest students in a classroom. For instance, I took Network Administration in high school. This was a vocational class and not one suited to nail-biting hard academics. I do believe that I gained a better understanding of the essentials of a computer network and thereby encouraged my learning into the field of computer science. Now, in the same class there were students who probably would not graduate in the top fifty of their class and were seeking only to take the class an introductory course for their careers once they got out of high school. This certainly is not tracking, I know, but it does go to show that high and low achievers can master the same material. I got some material quicker than others, some I had a harder time with. I also take into consideration that many courses have prerequisite courses, which if not mastered can mean that a student does not have the ability to take them. I could not take Network Administration without taking Keyboarding, then another computer class. So, I figure that the student is the most responsible for placing themselves in a high achieving or low achieving track

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Travis Souther

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Tue Feb 01, 2005 11:54 am
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I can understand why schools like the idea of tracking. It tries to keep everyone at the level they feel the student is at but I don't think it should be in our schools. I feel that it should be the teachers job to try to accomodate all the students needs in the classroom. I'm not saying this is the most easiest thing for teachers to do, but for the sake of the students being labeled in the "dumb" class, something has to be tried. For example on a reading homework assignment maybe a teacher could discreetly talk to individuals who may be "behind" and need a little extra work. The teacher could assign some extra assignments to any students that may be behind, to help them read better so that they have a chance to catch up and hopefully reach the academic level of other students in the class. This is a tough topic that needs to be dealt with in our schools, but how do we go about dealing with it?

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Jeni Gudridge


Tue Feb 01, 2005 2:04 pm
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Even though I never really realized because my friends and I never placed a lot of value on it, we were tracked throughout high school. Out teachers would point us towards the classes 'they' thought we should take. Before we even started freshmen year, we were already placed in either the college track with honors classes or in the tech track to jump right into the work force straight out of high school. The only problem I saw with it was that we, the college track, had to take harder classes for the same credit and gpa score as the tech track. I cannot really remember if we had remedial classes in every subject although I do remember tutoring remedial math my junior and senior years.

I know that the friendships I developed before high school continued regardless of the track we were in. However, the friends I made while in high school were all from the same track I was in so there was some seperation of tracks in that regard. My school was small enough though, that there was not a log of infighting between tracks, it was more between different groups of students from the different towns all in the same high school.

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Daniel Inman


Wed Feb 02, 2005 2:27 pm
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In 7th and 8th grade, I was placed in the high track for math. Instead of learning the basic math, we learned the basic math for the 8th grade(in 7th), Pre-Algebra and 9th grade algebra (in 8th). I personally hated this because I only had one friend in these classes during middle school, fortunately I had always been friends with this guy. I felt separated from my other classmates in the other math classes, as well as, my other friends.

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Heath Robertson


Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:37 pm
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I really did not have a tracking system until high school when we were placed in CP and AP classes. Honestly, at the time I really didn't acknowledge these classes as a tracking system. But now when I think back, I realize just how much difference was between these two programs. The sad part is that many of the AP students were in classes were teachers did not even teach them and they were able to recieve college credit that was not deserved.

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Brittany Burton


Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:37 pm
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I do not remember tracking in elementary and middle school. It seemed to me that we always had all different abilites in the majority of my classes. In 5th grade when I moved to North Carolina, I did leave class twice a week or so to go to my AG class and in high school I was inrolled in all advanced and a few AP classes.

Just from studying tracking over the semester, I think that it is an extremely negative thing. It seems as though the only track that "wins" is the fast or advanced track; otherwise, the "slower" track gets farther and farther behind because their competancy and abilities are doubted. I think that it is important to have children of all different levels in a class because every student has something to contribute to the group. In my elementary and middle school classes, we always worked as a group and helped eachother. For example, I have always had trouble with math and science and have always excelled in social studies and language arts. I would help other students who were having trouble understanding language arts and social studies while other students would always help me with science and math. This way every student feels important because their strengths are shining through.

Students need to learn that they are not always going to come into contact and work with people that are just like them. I believe that the earlier children realize this the better off they will be later in life.

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Kate Mille


Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:58 pm
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The whole time we discussed tracking I was trying to think back to if me and my friends were tracked. As far as middle school I don't think we were because I know that all of the classes were divided up pretty evenly. Then in high school I know we had to tell them if we wanted to go to college but it wasn't a big deal at our school. I know that I was friends with the same people I had always been friends with. At our school the students did not pay attention to who was in what class, we were still friends.

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Stacey Burris


Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:34 pm
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When i was in elementary school I was tracked. I remember my mom telling me that teacher said that i was not going to be able to learn and that is just how it was. But she did not believe it so we continued and I finally got out of it in the 7th grade. But i remember taking the test and knowing that I was not as smart as other students because i was told that i was different. I know that it dose a lot to a childs self esteem.

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Brandon Shivers


Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:39 am
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