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TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
This is a fair question! Opposition to ability grouping is a fringe idea opposed by the great majority of parents. So which obscure, fringe organizations are pushing it? Let's ask the National Council of Teachers of English what they think:
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Analytic Valley Girl Chris
@ChrisExpTheNews
Replying to @hkozachkov @tracewoodgrains and @turing_hamster
Give me an example of where anti tracking is being actually pushed. Not just some crank writing an op ed, but in a way that might actually effect policy change in a district. Who's asking for it?
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David Watson 🥑
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TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
Or what about the most prominent law casebook publishers?
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TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
Alright, I'm not done ranting about my education law casebook and its treatment of ability grouping. Maybe you thought my description was an exaggeration. It's not. Let's take a look. How does the casebook start its analysis of ability grouping? It calls it "within-school x.com/tracewoodgrain…
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TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
How about the Association of State Supervisors of Mathematics, NCSM: Leadership in Mathematics Education, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)? You know it.
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TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
and now New York is eagerly jumping in behind them!
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TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
clicked into the briefs, first one I read is lying about ability grouping yeah, these are trash if you care about math education, consider signing the petition x.com/karenvaites/st…
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TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
But aside from the organizations representing teachers and admins in English and math, principals, educators as a whole, training every education law student, and advising two of the largest and most influential states in the country, who's really pushing it, y'know?
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BrizaFridata
@BrizaFridata
Im beginning to suspect that there is a miscommunication error here. It’s all in the way ability grouping is promoted. There are different abilities, math, music, sports, art, science. Parents don’t want to think their offspring are below normal. Why not focus on abilities other
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Joe McReynolds
@McReynoldsJoe
How does one do ability grouping w/o treating the kids below AP/Honors level as lost causes? My public high school was pretty decent (top 500 in the nation I think) and the teaching for non-AP kids just seemed way less dedicated.. guessing b/c they knew parents wouldn't complain?
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TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
it's not bc parents won't complain so much as "if the students are less interested and less skilled, teachers have a harder job." in terms of what you can do - take the task of teaching people to their level seriously, hire skilled and passionate educators to teach lower classes
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Jay Howard
@jayphoward
Is there actually any polling data on what % of parents support or oppose ability grouping? Presumably the minority of parents whose kids will be in the "high" group support it. Do the other parents? My kids went to a fairly high-performing, affluent public elementary ...
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TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
there's polling for voters! removing advanced classes in schools is less popular than defund the police and reparations.
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David Shor
@davidshor
Really great to see @RoKhanna stand up for tracking - removing advanced classes from schools is literally the single most unpopular policy we've ever polled x.com/RoKhanna/statu…
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Fish Stark
@fishstark
Have you seen any good ideas proposed to mitigate the affects of ability grouping on kids’ academic self-concept, or do you think this is not a particularly relevant concern?
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TracingWoodgrains
@tracewoodgrains
I don’t think it’s a particularly relevant concern. How do you think it affects someone’s self-concept to be the slowest learner in every class they’re in? Make grouping subject-specific, give people opportunities to play different roles, teach people at their levels.
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mauv
@ThatsMauvelous
> tracking, a system which limits students' intellectual, linguistic, and/or social development the "and/or" is killing me
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tetheredtoed
@tetheredtoed1
Parents won’t hear it as “we are detracking” it’s in euphemism about “challenging all students” and “not having so many levels” — starts w eliminating lowest level, combining AP and Honors etc
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Abe Murray
@abemurray
The teachers and admin (at public schools) are not accountable to or care about the desires of the parents And we see here and in their actions they are not aimed at delivering the best education for each individual child’s abilities They want something different, and we
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Hot Onion Juice
@HotOnionJuice
Do they think it's happening because no one supports it? NYC has been eroding grouping by ability for a while now with the removal of entrance testing for specialized high schools because they were performing well, but they weren't 'diverse' enough.
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Jeff
@SEAsheltie
This just says they want to eliminate the negative effects of ability grouping. Since there aren't any negative effects, that means, logically, they don't actually oppose grouping!
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Tom Swiss, HMSH 🗸
@tom_swiss
"...second generation segregation issue" Black kids are failing. Rather than address the reasons (urban poverty as a legacy of systemic racism, poorly run schools) we'll make everyone fail, thus making everyone equal.
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TheUnsaid
@TheUnsaid11
If ability grouping is ineffective or unfair, why is it used in sports at all levels, from younger ages? Ability grouping is also used in the German education system. It is common in other countries.
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TT
@TTtheNegligible
In my experience, rank and file teachers recognize that tracking by 6th grade at the latest is obviously good.
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(J)Remy🔱
@JRRmack
besides the point but how in the hell are there so many “Associations.” The Association of Southern Secondary School Male Teachers recommends what ooo? They seem to just intake money and output documents to defend their own existence
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