One of the major barriers to effective schools is the tracking and ability grouping system, which socializes children to trajectories of failure or success throughout their school lives and adult careers. Since schools play a major role in forging adolescent identity, such a process systematically disadvantages students given negative labels and…

Brief statements and references are provided on resegregation resulting from: (1) allocation of students to separate classrooms in elementary school according to ability; (2) within-classroom ability grouping; (3) tracking in high school; and (4) disciplinary policies and student suspensions. Further references on resegregation are also provided.…

Discusses "The Social Context of Instruction," a summary of the existing knowledge of research methods on instructional grouping prepared by experts of various disciplines in order to share their perspectives on instructinal grouping and research methodologies. (EL)

Steps can be taken in the areas of curriculum, testing, and tracking to raise educational standards for all students. Specifically, local and state authorities should cooperate to tighten course requirements, tie standardized examinations to the curriculum, and institute a demanding common curriculum in the years before high school tracking. (MJL)

This paper addresses the segregation of student populations that results from adoption of multitrack year-round school attendance calendars. Its focus of analysis is the link between student achievement and the use of a multitrack year-round education (YRE) program to structure student attendance. Data for this study consist of achievement test…

This book recounts how American schools undertook reform after reform, based on unproven and unworkable theories, resulting in attention being diverted from the schools' essential purpose: the intellectual development of every child. American educators have committed three historical errors. First, they tried to turn the school into a vehicle for…

The purpose of this article is to describe how various minority women--immigrants and the poor--have participated in American schooling since 1900. It is part of a theme issue: "Views of Women in Education: Past, Present, and Future." (Author/SJL)

This study examined a Queensland secondary school where students select a track: Academic, Commercial, or General. Six months into their program, Grade 9 students were queried about their school experience, track choice, peer relationships, and future plans. Responses of the three track groups are summarized, with consideration of sex differences.…

The effects of within-class grouping on student achievement and other outcomes were quantitatively integrated using one set of 145 effect sizes exploring grouping versus no grouping and a set of 20 effect sizes related to homogeneous versus heterogeneous ability grouping. Overall, results favored homogeneous grouping. (SLD)

Investigated Israeli 9th-graders' perceptions about messages conveyed by counselors while guiding them into a rigid high school track system. Student surveys indicated that while counselors were somewhat hesitant about giving very definitive messages, they still differentiated their messages by academic status and gender. Low achievers and girls,…

The school board's decision not to renew the contract of Norward Roussell, Selma, Alabama's first Black superintendent, prompted protests followed by a week-long closure of the schools. Summarizes the events and Roussell's analysis of the problems. (MLF)

Examines placement test scores of first-time freshmen in Tennessee postsecondary institutions to see whether timed placement testing creates disparate entry-level tracks for disadvantaged and advantaged students. Compares placement scores by ethnicity. Reports that fewer Black students completed all items on the placement test than White students.…

This article examines the influence of the new educational strategy on the changing structure of opportunities for Chinese youth, discusses current educational inequalities which emerged from post-Mao reform, and analyzes the effect of new policies on youth attitudes and behaviors. (IAH)

A Georgia superintendent (and former teacher) angered board and community members by calling in federal authorities to help eliminate de facto segregation in two schools serving 1,200 students. At issue were a discriminatory track system and unintegrated cheerleading teams. Sidebars explain the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights…

This interview with an author who investigated "untracking" in America's schools discusses whether tracking enhances academic achievement, why tracking is harmful, how common tracking is, what elementary school tracking looks like, advantages to grouping children homogeneously for certain subjects, alternatives to tracking, cooperative learning,…