Talking Point #6

Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route
By: Jeannie Oakes


Premise:
- Grouped
- Ability
- Individual needs
- Stereotyped
- "less-able"
- Minority
- Tracking
- Hight-ability
- Instruction
- Teaching
- Learning
- Interact
- Enviornment
- Differences
- Working together

Argument:
- I think that Oakes makes two different arguments
1. "Students need not be held back from ideas because of skill differences; rather they can acquire skills as they become ready" (180).
2. Unless teachers take the time to experiment with changes in the organization of classroom practices, alternatives to tracking are not likely to be effective.

Evidence:
- When students are seperated by skill difference the students with low abilities don't get all the extra help they need and the students with the highest ability get all the attention so that they exceed the curriculum above and beyond.
- Students should be able to be in charge of evaluating themselves because that way they will grow more skills by trying to figure things out for themselves without just being told what to do.
- Oakes says that the kind of organizational changes that need to be made will help to promote high quality learning for all students.

Comments:
- I thought that the article was very interesting. I liked it because it was very easy to read and to comprehend. I also liked that it was short and got right to the point. I don't really agree with the idea of splitting children up by their abilities. I think that it is unfair to everyone and that some children's feelings could be hurt by that. For example in my SL school the students that I work with know that they are woking with me because they are behind the rest of the class. They think they are woking with me because everyone else is smarter than they are. Children do understand when they are being seperated by their abilitites and I think that they would get a much better experience when they work with other children of all different abilities.