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Running head: CASE STUDY ESSAY 1

Case Study Essay

Sung Kim

University at Albany

CASE STUDY ESSAY 2

Case Study Essay

The practice referred to as “tracking” started as a response to the incursion of immigrant

children joining America’s schools in the early 20th century. To provide efficient education to

these immigrants who arrived in large population, it was significant to sort the children into

various tracks based on their past performance or ability. As stated by a school reformer called

Ellwood P. Cubberley in 1909, “Our city schools will soon be compelled to abandon the

exceedingly democratic idea that all are equal and our community devoid of classes… and start a

specialization of educational effort along numerous lines.” The process of sorting children into

different tracks was made easy by IQ test and standardized achievement tests.

In the early days of tracking, high school students and junior high students were given

assignments to evaluate them academically, and through vocational tracks. At the extreme, many

students received grooming to prepare them for college and others were being prepared to enter

trades such as secretarial work and plumbing. In the mid-century, many schools had mastered

some form of tracking. Presently, the extreme form of tracking has diminished because

policymaker, political players, and educators hold the fear that America is almost losing its

competitive edge (Burris & Garrity, 2008). This compelled educators to ensure that all the

students are grilled to have access to a rigorous academic curriculum. Politicians and states

passed minimum graduation standards that demanded that students must take a particular number

of courses in core subjects such as Mathematics, English, Science and Social studies. Later on,

during 1983, A Nation at Risk report made a recommendation that tougher standards are set and

in the ensuing two decades, the percentage of students taking four years of each academic

subject escalated profoundly.

Cubberley (1909), "Our..." (p. ?).

CASE STUDY ESSAY 3

With laying emphasis on preparing all the students for college, tracking plays an

important role of grouping students by ability within subjects. In every subject, students must be

assigned to advance, basic and regular courses depending on their performance. For example,

students in advanced track may opt to pursue pre-calculus as juniors in high school and calculus

as seniors, while students in basic tracks must take as far as geometry or algebra II. The

development of Advanced Placement courses is one example of the manner in which tracking

has become a long-standing groundwork.

It is noteworthy that the amount of fluidity and the methods by which students are

assigned tracks within a particular tracking system varies depending on the school’s mission.

Some schools may allow students to be placed into advanced class for a single subject, while

other schools prohibit mobility between structures. It is vital to understand the various factors

before offering a recommendation about whether the school, Vorheesville High School should

adopt the proposal to detrack its curriculum. Some of the factors are highlighting the advantages

and disadvantages of tracking systems in schools (Burris & Garrity, 2008).

When examining the equality of educational opportunities, it is significant to focus on the

formal organization of the school. The arrangement of students for instructions is a major

dimension of school organization. This is because they must be divided into grades and assigned

within grades and this must ascribe to the achieved characteristics. Hence, students find

themselves being assigned to groups by age, gender, proficiency in linguistics, and educational

or vocational aspirations. Other than all the above groupings, students are also grouped in terms

of their academic ability. In fact, tracks have become a commonplace in American schools and

the most important this is to determine how ability grouping affects students’ admittance to the

curriculum. The reason for this is that unequal access to educational opportunities creates

CASE STUDY ESSAY 4

differences. Consequently, researchers questioned and want to know whether tracking as a

mechanism are channeled to students (Hyland, 2006).

Supporters of tracking indicate that this practice that compels students to be assigned to

ability groups acts as a facilitator of the instructional process. They claim that it allows teachers

to focus their lessons to the ability of the students. Teachers become able to assist students

familiarize the content and hence, meet the students’ needs. Critics of tracking claim that it

creates unequal opportunities for students in terms of lessons learnt at different groups. They

argue that the higher tracks receive quality and quantity of instructions that are superior. In fact

they indicate that learning is a bit conducive in higher or superior tracks.

I would recommend that detracking be done for the Vorheesville High School, but in line

with their mission. This is because research concerning track assignment leads to several

assumptions. One of these suppositions is that tracking is determined by both nonacademic

factors and students’ ability. And the ability is usually determined through standardized test

scores, teachers, and previous courses (Hyland, 2006). As I mentioned earlier, empirical research

indicate that the criteria on which track assignments are based vary depending on specific

schools. Since there are numerous factors to be considered, achievement of many students is

controlled in terms of race and gender, thus; affecting the track level. The disproportionality

created by tracking systems in different schools must be addressed through detracking because it

does not benefit all the students.

CASE STUDY ESSAY 5

References

Hyland, N. (2006). “Detracking in the Social Studies: A Path to a More Democratic

Education?”.Theory into Practice 45 (1): 64–71.

Burris, C. C., & Garrity, D. T. (2008).Detracking for excellence and equity. Alexandria, Va:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.