no tracking for me

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Home : 2005 : February : 8

no tracking for me
By marie

I hate ability grouping and tracking.
They have stopped it in the elementary schools here and I am so glad.

Years ago, back in the dark ages (in the 70s) I worked in a school that did ability grouping. We had four classes
in each grade so we ended up with four broad groups/tracks which came to be called low, low average, high average, and high. At the end of kindergarten students were separated into four classes. The problem was that kids seemed to get stuck where they landed in grade one. Seldom did anyone move (for a variety of reasons)
I taught grade three. The gifted program started in grade four

and students were selected for it in grade three. At that time we gave the Iowa Test of Basic Skills to all grades. Their grade three scores were first way to be chosen. If you got a certain score you were automatically in. If you scored below that but above another score you were given another test/chance to gain admission.

One year I taught the low average class. A group of girls came to me and 'tattled' that 'J' was saying that she was going to the gifted program the next year. (They had been bragging how they were going to take the second test to get in.) They could not believe that this girl in the low average group could already be in the program while they, the best and brightest in the high group, had to take the second test. Were they ever surprised when I said that 'J' was correct -she was already in the program.