Question

What are the dangers of academic tracking programs?

Answer 1

Academic tracking, the middle and high school practice of grouping students into separate classes as opposed to grouping students within a class, has drawn the criticism and negative attention among educators. Tracking leads students to take on labels thag are usually associated with their pace of learning, such as slow or fast. This tends to be commonly confused with their ability to learn, by their teachers, parents and even themselves. Furthermore, once students are grouped, they tend to remain at that level for their entire school career, due to a self-fulfilling prophecy. This increases the gap between achievement and levels.