Adqs: Tracking

ADQs: Tracking

Tracking students by their social class or race is still an entrenched part of US education. After a few decades’ progress promoting equity during the 1960s and 1970s, providing working class students an education for subordination has returned with a vengeance. Last week, Kozol showed us that poor African American students in inner city schools are tracked into a sterile vocational curriculum that addresses neither their personal aspirations nor the realities of the labor market.

This week, you will read important, recent articles on tracking and some classic pieces that still stimulate a large amount of scholarship. The first article, by Mickelson and Everett, introduces you to the idea of neo-tracking, or new tracking, that is, how tracking works today. Although this article deals with North Carolina, the system it describes is very similar to Florida’s. If you’ve spent time in Pinellas county schools, you will recognize much of what you read. I assigned the Executive Summary, but you can click on the link to read the entire article, probably a good idea if you’re going to write about tracking.

The second article, “Keeping Track” is by Jeanie Oakes, a long-time student of tracking. She wrote this piece to introduce several articles that appeared in special issue of Teachers College Record on tracking, including the Mickelson and Everett piece. Even though you won’t read the other articles, Oakes does a good job summarizing them, and she makes some useful arguments along the way. She takes her title from a book she wrote some 25 years ago. If you want to read the other articles you can find them by following the electronic journals link on the library’s web page. Here’s a link. You may need the following information, depending on how you navigate to the journal: Teachers College Record, Volume 110 Number 3, 2008.

Then you read two classic pieces on tracking. Both of them focus on elementary schools and help us see how deeply tracking is embedded in US schools. Anyon uses Correspondence Theory, developed by economists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, that we talked about the first week. The idea is that the curriculum corresponds to features of the sorts of jobs students will likely have when they grow up—working class kids get repetitive, rote curriculum and middle class kids are allowed a bit more self- direction and get a somewhat more intellectually interesting curriculum. You’ll notice that Anyon doesn’t just use correspondence theory she critiques it and develops it. Although she clearly accepts the idea that schools reproduce existing inequality from one generation to the next (remember my introductory lecture), she goes on to argue that schools have non-reproductive potential; that is, they can do something that leads to greater equality. See if you can sort out what she means. (Here’s a link to Anyon’s web page.)

The final piece, by Ray Rist, gives us a picture of how tracking worked in kindergarten and first grade in segregated schools. His extensive studies of tracking in the primary grades in both segregated and desegregating schools give us a detailed understanding of how tracking is actually done in elementary schools. That’s been the most important effect of this work. Rist also helps us think about class divisions within the African American community and their implications for schooling. Try to relate Rist’s article to McNally, Kozol, Anderson, and Anyon (and even Rose). (Here’s a link to one of Rist’s books, The urban school : a factory for failure.)

Group 1 & 6 Individual Work: Briefly summarize the arguments and ideas in this week’s readings, focusing on the Oakes piece. What are some of her most important arguments? Select three or four passages to illustrate her arguments. Using her article to start your thinking, does tracking really achieve its goals of making instruction more efficient and tailoring it to the needs of specific groups of students? Take some time to relate her ideas and arguments to what you see in Mickelson and Everett or Rist. Do you see connections between what Oakes says and what Kozol said in last week’s article?

Group Work: Do a detailed outline of the ideas and arguments in Oakes. Select two or three passages to interpret and analyze in depth; that is, show how they illustrate Oakes’ argument, connect them to other parts of her paper, and connect them to other readings this week and with readings earlier in the term.

Group 2 & 7 Individual Work: Briefly discuss the ideas and arguments in this week’s readings focusing on Rist. How would you relate Rist’s argument to other readings about tracking? Select two or three passages from Rist and say why you think they are important. Compare his solution to what McNally thinks should be done. How does Rist feel about his work now, some thirty years later? How would you relate his work to Kozol’s piece, written some 30 years later?

Group Work: Do a detailed outline of the ideas and arguments in Rist. Select two or three passages to interpret and analyze in depth; that is, show how they illustrate his arguments, connect them to other parts of her paper, and connect them to other readings this week and with readings earlier in the term.

Group 3 & 8 Individual Work: Briefly summarize the arguments and ideas in this week’s readings focusing most of your attention on Mickelson and Everett. Pull together ideas about tracking from the readings, both for this week and earlier weeks. Has tracking lived up to the promises made by its advocates? Based on the study of North Carolina and other things you’ve read, do we actually have ability grouping in the schools? Has tracking led to an education better suited to individuals’ needs, or has it simply served to funnel better teachers, smaller classes, and educational resources to already privileged students? Write down three questions that will help your group clarify what tracking is and why it exists. Group Work: Do an extensive outline of arguments and ideas in Mickelson & Everett. Pick one or two passages to interpret; that is, say what the passage means, connect it to other passages in this reading, other readings this week, and past readings. Summarize your group’s discussion of tracking and the questions you’ve raised.

Group 4 & 9 Individual Work: Briefly summarize the arguments and ideas in this week’s readings focusing most of your attention on Mickelson and Everett. Pull together ideas about tracking from the readings, both for this week and earlier weeks. Has tracking lived up to the promises made by its advocates? Based on the study of North Carolina and other things you’ve read, do we actually have ability grouping in the schools? Has tracking led to an education better suited to individuals’ needs, or has it simply served to funnel better teachers, smaller classes, and educational resources to already privileged students? Write down three questions that will help your group clarify what tracking is and why it exists.

Group Work: Do an extensive outline of arguments and ideas in Mickelson & Everett. Pick one or two passages to interpret; that is, say what the passage means, connect it to other passages in this reading, other readings this week, and past readings. Summarize your group’s discussion of tracking and the questions you’ve raised.

Group 5 & 10 Do an argument outline of Anyon, “Social Class and School Knowledge.” Make sure to explain what Correspondence Theory is and why Anyon thinks it’s important. What does she mean when she says schools have non-reproductive potential? Give some examples of that potential and discuss whether you think schools do have such potential. As a group, select two or three important passages from Anyon’s reading to discuss and interpret for the class. Relate this article to earlier readings on tracking. Although you may not have time to get very far with it, begin to think about the following question: Can Correspondence Theory be generalized to understand the curriculum, both explicit and hidden, offered to boys and girls, on one hand, and to whites and Blacks, on the other? Do you think the policies promoted in A Nation at Risk and No Child Left Behind adequately address the issues raised by this week’s readings?