1-The CHS tracking approach has failed. The CHS Principal and Department Heads all agree that it has failed and the results are that more than 1/3 of the CHS students are not proficient and classes are segregated by race.
2-The decisions on which level to place a student in College Prep or Enriched cannot be clearly articulated and are without foundation says the CHS Science Department Head, many parents and teachers.
3-There is a dramatic increase in low achievement by students as the amount of tracking increases from elementary to high school. Students are overwhelming proficient where tracking is least in the elementary schools and dramatically less by CHS.
4-Similar African American students are achieving at over 60% proficiency at the Abington High School compared to barely 33% proficiency at CHS. Abington High eliminated tracking.
5-Low tracking leads to low expectations of students, and a label of low ability leads to low motivation of students.
6-Overcoming the institutional push down of students is extremely difficult and rare for parents, teachers and students. A high school student in 2007 said that he and his family were "silenced" by the tracking. A high school student in 2008 said that the kids at the lower level feel "dumb" beginning in 3rd grade.
7-The parent who supports a kid to become proficient in elementary school is the same parent with the same kid who is not proficient in 11th grade. Parents should not be required to create student success against the odds in Cheltenham. Instead the schools should make academic achievement the universal standard, not an "opportunity".
8-Discipline incidents rise with bored and distracted students and decline with engaged and challenged students. Once kids are placed in difficult classes where they are expected to achieve the discipline incidents generally decrease.
9-Hard working students with average ability can achieve at the highest levels of CHS including the College Board Advanced Placement level.
10-Many students, parents, teachers, schools and community members are currently suffering from a low achievement lie that has been made plain by our Abington neighbor. The problem is not primarily the students or the parents. Tracking is dumbing down the children.
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3 comments:
I liked CAAA's comments about "Tracking is Dumbing Down the Children", especially observation #7. Academic Achievement for all should be a norm in all of the schools in Cheltenham School District, not an exception.
De-tracking will put an end to separating students into different levels according to their ability. Advocates of de-tracking reason that low achieving students will benefit from a being in a classroom of high achieving classmates. Perhaps they feel that these students will improve their study habits by being with better students. But isn’t it also probable that the high achieving students will suffer? The learning process which was once rigorous will have to be slowed down to accommodate the lower levels. Teacher expectations and standards would have to be lowered to address the needs of the low achievers as well. Tracking is necessary to ensure quality learning and to allow teachers to address the whole class rather than spend large amounts of time helping the struggling students to keep up or by lowering their standards so they don’t fall behind. It is irrational to force all kids of varying levels into the same classes.
I feel that de-tracking is a huge mistake. Rather than eliminating tracking, reforms in education within the lower tracks should be implemented. Academic Achievement for all is a norm of this district. Ample opportunities exist for all students in Cheltenham Schools, it is up to the students and parents to be accountable for their own successes and failures. It will not matter what class, track, non-tracked class an individuals in if they are not responsible or capable.
It is up to the students and parents to be accountable for their own successes and failures." It will to H Austin and others who share the same views regarding tracking; I wish is was that simple but it is not. There are lot African-American parents and students who have tried to incorporate success for their children, only to become tangled up in a web of incompetence, personal judgments, and arrogance. I have had to demand for almost a year for my son to just get tested, but everyone kept telling me he was "lazy, unmotivated". Well now, after receiving the IEP he deserved, outside and school tutoring, and using learning techniques that are different or nonexistent that the schools implement, my son is getting A, B,and C's. He was failing everything in middle school and 9th grade. It is not fair those parents regardless of race, to have to call and have to physically come up to these schools to demand services for their children. Have you seen the school report? http://www.paayp.com/3260_default.html?chsNav=|9639|
For CHELTENHAM HS, the "Did not meet AYP" status means that improvement is needed in:
Reading Proficiency by the IEP Special Education and Black student groups.
Math Proficiency by the IEP Special Education and Black student groups.
Reading Test Participation by the IEP Special Education student group.
Math Test Participation by the IEP Special Education student group.
De-tracking is not to hold back the students who are already succeeding. They have the tools and the resources to be consistent in their progression. De-tracking is working in Abington. Instead of constantly having meetings and discussions about de-tracking, we need to converge on the school district and demand the change
January 28, 2009 2:54 PM
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