Writer’s Block Demolition Site

An almost-recent study reported by ScienceDaily.com provided a different view into the somewhat-popular tracking system in school. It was different not in that it supported tracking (unlike many of my sources) but that it came from a foreign source: England.

Jo Boaler of Professor of Education at the University of Sussex studied various students in mixed-ability grouping and segregated-ability grouping (that’s my own term, by the way), including 700 American students. Her results were not too surprising to me, except that she praised the American school system and chastised the English system, saying,

“In England we use more ability grouping than possibly any other country in the world, and children are put into groups at a very young age. It is no coincidence that our society also has high levels of anti-social behaviour and indiscipline. Children who are put into low sets in school quickly learn to view themselves as unsuccessful and develop anti-school values that lead into general anti-social behaviour.”

Huh, I would not have expected her to focus so much on social behaviour (oops! British spelling…it’s contagious), but I guess that would make sense. True it is that an honors class would “behave” better than a “regular” class, but why? Could it be that the lower-placed classes are full of students who know that they’re expected to do poorly? Could it be that they are under-challenged and bored to tears? Possibly, but let’s not tarry on novel, impractical, or possibly improbably possibilities.

“Many parents support ability grouping because they think it is advantageous for high attaining children, but my recent study of a new system of grouping in the US showed that the system benefited students at high and low levels and the high attaining students were the most advantaged by the mixed ability grouping, because they had opportunities to learn work in greater depth.”

Well, there does seem to be that gap between parents with high-achieving children and parents who just don’t care. I wonder whether it ever happens that a parent pioneers ability-based grouping and then watches her child “fail” the placement test and receive placement in a lower-level class? It’s possible, and would be a bit funny, but I doubt it. Whether it’s because parents truly know their children’s abilities (possible….) OR because children’s placement has more to do with birthright than anything else. Again, I’m getting too suggestive.

How great it is, then, that we Americans are not alone in this tracking problem! No, the problem is even more widespread than that. Hooray for spreading the misery.

Full article here.

Science Daily

Adapted from materials provided by University of Sussex.