Talking Points #6

Jeannie Oakes
Tracking: Why Schools need to take another route

Oakes argues that by continuing to implement tracking in schools educators are not following in the right direction. The direction educators take must be altered to fit all students from all abilities. Through tracking education are creating uneven opportunities for students. Oakes states that tracking creates instructional advantages for high-ability students with better teachers, more expectations, and more resources and leaving the “unspecial” students low-ability and average students behind. Oakes suggests that higher ability students do equally well in mixed groups and that this might be the first way of changing or thinking about tracking. What’s actually working and what’s not? Oakes concludes her document by letting the readers know that unless teachers take the time to discuss, modify, change and develop alternatives to tracking will continue to be implemented in school system and will continue to create uneven opportunities and widen the gap between students.


1. “Students who need more time to learn appear to get less; those who have the most difficulty learning seem to have fewer of the best teachers.”

In this quote Oakes highlights that all students do learn differently and those who are of lower ability or average are getting deprived of resources and the same or better educators. The teachers of lower ability students have fewer expectations and continue to go over materials leaving it so that these children can never catch up or end up in the high ability group if they wanted to.


2. "Moreover, the nature of these differences suggests that students who are placed in high-ability groups have access to far richer schooling experiences than other students.”
I believe that this was one of Oakes main arguments, she states that higher ability groups are getting the better teachers, resources, more expectations and are being challenged. It’s not just the idea behind tracking that Oakes is stating it’s the instructional advantages that come along with classes that are made up of high-ability students.

3. “But unless teachers have the time and the autonomy to deliberate about, develop, and experiment with fundamental changes in school organization and classroom practices, alternatives to tracking are unlikely to be intelligently conceived, enthusiastically endorsed, or successfully implemented."

Oakes ends her argument with this quote, she explains that tracking will continue to exist and be implemented unless teachers are willing to take the time to change it. That since these ideas have been implemented for so long they are more likely to continue unless they are conversed about and modified into alternatives for students of all abilities.

I thought this article was very easy to read and follow. The article left me contemplating and thinking about the alternatives to tracking. Do any exist? Have they been implemented or suggested? Why aren't teachers and administrators taking the time to address this? I believe that just eliminating tracking won't neccesarily change the instructional advantages of higher ability students over others. In my old high school they eliminated higher level classes that were ranked by X,A,B,C all together and just made them college prep or standard. I don't believe this was the right strategy taken. It didn't change it I believe it actually made it worse for those that were in the high honor X classes. In some instances in high school there are some students who just want to pass and don't want to do any work and there are some who are high achieving who want to do the best they can to be on the top of the list in high school who worry about their grades and their gpa's. I feel as if low ability students sometimes do make an impact in high ability students achivements. Maybe in elementary and middle school this isn't the same aspect. At the same time I believe that those students who are low ability are capable of higher achiveing work. They do need more resources, better teachers who will push them to be higher achieving and have more expectation of them. They can do well they just need more time, and resources, not less.