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Gary Winslett 🌐🇺🇸
@GaryWinslett
I happened to talk to an elementary/middle school principal not too long ago and I gently made the case more tracking and I was kind of taken aback at how stridently he opposed tracking on “equity” grounds. It’s kinda crazy how much that framing has come to dominate education thinking even though it’s not great for students and also not especially popular with parents.
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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: x.com/ChrisExpTheNew…
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David Watson 🥑
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30 Winks
@30Winks
Could a re-branding away from "Ability" help your cause? If you were to call it "Way Point Clustering" or some term that made it clear that (ideally) mastery was the intended endpoint for all, perhaps there would be fewer objections.
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Northsider
@Northsider1060
What would be the expected outcome if Republican controlled schools have tracking and Democrat schools don’t?(btw not having tracking is the dumbest idea it’s like having varsity athletes with peewee league doing freshman athletics.)
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Chris Kline
@philosophergeek
I have taught math for nearly forty years and this has been an ongoing battle. The assumption is always that the teacher should just be able to create a custom curriculum for each student to match their needs. The problem, needless to say, essentially almost never happens.
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Jay Howard
@jayphoward
I'm already participating in the comments to that post, but "this policy is bad for low-performing kids" seems like a reasonable concern, even if (arguably) it is not accurate, and even if the policy would be a net positive for the set of all students. "Good on net but bad ...
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Tarnation
@Tarnational
I spoke with a teacher 15 years ago, who is now the president of her union and she didn't even know the term "tracking" when I brought it up. When I explained it was ability grouping she was against it on principle. This was even before equity was the end all be all.
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Solicitor
@USASolicitor
The underlying mindset is why they oppose vouchers and charter schools so much. They don't want to have to care what parents believe is best for their own kids.
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JP
@JP14thStar
The problem with tracking is we start it way too young We allow the outcomes of 7 and 8 year olds to pretty much dictate the rest of their educational outcomes.
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Patranoid
@Patranoid
The biggest problem with tracking, IMHO, is that students get put in a track & can't get out of it. We had tracking when I was in school. There are disadvantages, but it seems like a baby/bathwater thing. Regular re-evaluation to correct would help minimize the negatives.
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Priscilla Jensen
@offhandmanor1
I wonder if everybody means the same thing by “tracking,” would guess pretty close. But common-sense tracking must surely be different from rigid permanent tracking?
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OliveBasil44
@basil4412086
What about teachers? I’d imagine most teachers don’t like having to teach students with a wide range of skills in the same class?
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Matt Powell
@mpowell0831
You get the impression that educators have been coddled by democratic politicians for quite a long time and need quite a lot of re-educating in a variety of ways
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KBowe
@KBowe_MA
After some turbulence in my middle school, I remember pleading with teachers to move me up a level in English and social studies in HS, with modest success. It's kinda cruel that you dismiss the impact of tracking 11 yr olds and its impact on the lives of these kids.
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