Staying on Track

York, along with most other larger high schools, places students into one of three tracks. These tracks represent three different ability level groups that the students are placed in when they enter high school. At York, they are called Honors, General, and KI (Key Ideas) in the science department. In theory, tracking is a great way to meet the needs of the students - higher performing students can be grouped together and given more challenging material to push them while lower performing students can be grouped together and given the support they need as a whole class. Practice, though, doesn't always equal theory. There is a ton of research done and being done on tracking and its negative effects (Janmaat, 2011; Welner & Oakes, 1996; Conger, 2005; Trent, 1997). It results in the two groups drifting further and further apart, and usually not because the honors students are achieving so much, but rather because the lower level classes get further and further behind. Now, this doesn't mean we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Let's consider the alternative: is a class of 1/3 honors level kids that are bored, 1/3 of general kids that are challenged, and 1/3 KI kids that are overwhelmed any better?

All this is background to what I have seen recently in two different students, X, and Y. 

X has been struggling for some time in my general level class. She is in my lowest performing section of general chemistry. I have seen how her peers in that class add to her obstacles rather than helping her overcome them. Her peers in that class are not helpful, because they also often don't know what they're doing and contribute to the distractions. X recently moved from my class to KI, since she just couldn't keep up. I think she certainly could have kept up. She could have put in some extra time with Megan or I and got back on track (no pun intended). As Megan and I talked about her move, though, we came to agree that moving to KI isn't really going to support her any more. The material moves slower, but KI classes are often full of even more distractions, less challenging material, and lower expectations. I think X moved from a bad environment to a worse one, and now she is stuck there for the year and likely will stay as a "KI kid" in the years to come.

Y is a struggling student in my highest performing general chemistry class. She came up as we were talking about X. She's a great example of someone who is benefiting from her peers. Because she just happened to be placed in a section of chemistry with a lot of other hard working, motivated, and intelligent students, she reaps the benefit of that positive environment. Had she landed in one of my other sections, I think she would be struggling even more. Her lab group partners help her understand the material and the atmosphere in the classroom helps to keep her engaged and pushing herself. She is certainly still struggling, but she is better off just because of the people she happens to sit with. 

There are a ton of factors in each student's development and education that are just "the luck of the draw." Sometimes, I begin to take this truth too far, though. Just because there are random forces acting on us, that doesn't mean we are just getting tossed to and fro in the waves of a great ocean. We can swim, too, you know, and we have a responsibility to do so.