“Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route” by Jeannie Oakes

Premise:
-heterogeneous vs. homogenous classrooms
-abilities (low, average or normal, gifted)
-the individual vs. groups
-class differences and their influences on education
-quality of learning
-achievement/acquiring of skills
-feeling comfortable in the classroom
-inequities
-teaching methods
-learning “speeds”
-gaps in learning and abilities
-presence or lack of opportunities/ advantages
-handicaps

Argument:
Oakes argues that heterogeneous teaching classroom setups can have beneficial outcomes if fundamental changes are made within the school curriculum and in the social organization of the school system. She believes that if teachers are strong in their fields and teach subjects that are “challenging, complex” and related to “real life,” the advantages of heterogeneous classrooms would outweigh the negatives. Oakes believes there are multiple reasons why the tracking of students in classroom is detrimental for the lower and normal students. She suggests such factors as the quality of the time spent on the learning, the actual content taught, and the atmosphere of the classroom itself influence the overall academic development of students.

Evidence:
- Oakes states, “when teachers are skillful, there is considerable evidence that even the very best students make stronger intellectual gains while working with students of varying skill levels than when they work alone.” She explains that when engaged in group work, students of varying abilities can exchange ideas and help each other while simultaneously becoming stronger individual students.
- Oakes notes that in classrooms with students of lower abilities, teachers spend the majority of the time in class to discipline and establish order among the students. She believes that this does not lead to an atmosphere that is comfortable for the students, nor conducive to learning. Oakes states, “Compared to teachers in high-ability classes, they seem to be more concerned about getting students to follow directions, be on time, and sit quietly. Students in lower-ability classes more often feel excluded from class activities and tend to find their classmates unfriendly.”
- Oakes describes how students in higher level English classes are taught “classic and modern literature” that helps the students develop analytical thinking skills. She notes how unlike in the high-ability English classes, “Students in the latter classes [low-ability] learn basic reading skills taught mostly by workbooks, kits, and easy-to-read stories.” These tasks do not require analytical or critical thinking and basically just focus on memorization and repetition. These skills are not the required skills when it comes to taking standardized tests and getting into higher level institutions.

Questions/ Comments
Having been in honors/ advanced placement courses all throughout my middle and high school career, I certainly read this article with an already formulated opinion. I do not believe that classrooms should be heterogeneous because doing so would require teachers to be super human figures, able to challenge the brightest and cater to the needs of those with lower abilities. I do not understand how anyone could look at that situation and think it is viable to carry out such actions. While the concept is nice and certainly advocates a sense of Communistic equality, I do not believe it would be effective in either the short or long run. I definitely agree that the curriculum in the lower and average classes should be just as content rich and rigorous as the content in the high-ability classes I just feel that the content should be taught at a different pace and maybe using different methods to connect with the different learning styles. I think that the ideas in this article relate to the ideas in Carlson’s article titled, “Gayness, Multiculturalism & Community.” Although the issue of sexuality is not addressed, the basic concept of normalizing the school community is addressed. Creating heterogeneous classrooms where students of all abilities learn together, leads to the creation of a body of seemingly similar students, working to make students of lower abilities feel just as competent and those of higher-abilities.