Tracking

Many schools in the U.S. separate children into different classes based on class grades or standardized test scores in mathematics. Typically tracking or grouping of students for instruction begins in earnest in middle school. Proponents of grouping argue that teachers are better able to meet student needs when the students in the same class are relatively homogeneous in ability level. Opponents of grouping argue that it has pernicious effects, particularly for low achieving students for whom standards are lowered. The large research base on the effects of grouping indicates that, in fact, lower performing students do less well when they are grouped together rather than taught in heterogeneous classes, while ability grouping provides little advantage to higher performing students (as long as the same curriculum is being delivered in all classes). Given the requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act that all children in grades 3 through 8 become mathematically proficient, and given the research indicating that ability tracking negatively affects children in the lower performing groups, there are good reasons to abandon ability grouping, particularly in grades K through 8.