A Compelling Case for Detracking Schools

Detracking for Excellence and Equity

By Carol Corbett Burris and Delia T. Garrity
(ASCD, 2008)

Reviewed by Sherry L. Annee
Biotechnology Teacher
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School (IN)
Teacher Leaders Network

What are the indicators that a book has made a significant contribution within its discipline? It’s one that challenges and moves the reader to take notice of the information, internalize it, and act upon the new knowledge and one the reader quotes and reflects upon long after reading it. Detracking for Excellence and Equity by Burris and Garrity is such a book! For example, read these compelling claims by the authors:

“Tracking, by its very nature, causes the achievement gap to widen.”

In a tracked system, the “talents of late bloomers go undiscovered.”

“Track movement occurs in a downward direction far more frequently than it does in an upward direction.”

“When schools are determined to level the playing field for disadvantaged students and ensure that all have access to their finest curriculum, students begin to see college and career possibilities that before seemed out of reach.”

“The reality is that you can’t close the achievement gap until you close the curriculum gap that is created by tracking.”

“The practice of tracking is based on the belief that the capacity to learn is shaped by biology ad childhood environment, and that there is little that schools can do to affect learning capacity.”

Whether or not you agree with the previous statements, you must read this book. Burris and Garrity are persuasive and credible because they support their assertions with research and firsthand experience as former teachers and current administrators in New York.

They’ve witnessed the achievement gap and apathy that occur as a result of tracking. They worked for a superintendent who claimed that “By the year 2000, 75% of all South Side High School students will earn a Regents diploma” — quite a bold statement given it represented a 17% increase from the number of students receiving the Regents diploma when superintendent William H. Johnson set the goal in 1993. By 2000, 84% of South Side H.S. students earned a Regents diploma and in 2005 that number increased to 97% as a result of a systematic and purposeful elimination of tracked courses.

In their book Detracking for Excellence and Equity, Burris and Garrity define tracking, debunk the myths associated with it, tackle the politics of detracking, and address how to dismantle tracking and develop an effective curriculum process, support teachers, and maintain reform.

Chapter 4, which is perhaps the most compelling chapter, outlines the “Three Ps” that sustain tracking: prejudice (intellectual, racial, and socio-economic), prestige (teacher, parent, and student), and power (parent, teacher, administrator, and board member). Once a school leader has been able to identify resistant stakeholders in the community and confront their deep-seeded myths and fear with various types of data, many people emerge with a greater understanding of detracking and the educational obstacles associated with it. The authors acknowledge that “the most difficult phase of detracking is when a school begins to question its assumptions and beliefs about teaching practices” but frequently reinforce that it is important to differentiate the learning experiences but not the standards or learning objectives.

The authors’ coverage of detracking is so comprehensive that it leaves readers with far more answers than questions — while simultaneously inspiring us to improve the educational opportunities for students at our local schools. Upon finishing the book, one is left cheering for Garrity and Burris as they claim, “By altering our methods of instruction in heterogeneous classes, we can accomplish what tracking never could — excellent educational experiences for all students.”

Comments

[toss255]

Between 1993 and now the Regents exams have become significantly easier and are basically a requirement for graduation. I bet that the statistics above also don't include IEP students.

[David B. Cohen]

I'm so glad you reviewed this book. I first heard about their work through some articles, and was thrilled that they wrote a book and that it was featured as an ASCD member book. Their work is thoroughly convincing.

As a teacher who has the one heterogeneous elective in a tracked department, I have seen examples of students who came in not believing they could be "honors" students, but then we discover that with the right support and curriculum, they have skills and interests that were not being addressed in prior classes. If we can agree that we would want a system that does not relegate certain students to a lower-quality education, then we should be looking quite critically at our tendency to identify and solidify differences as early as we do in many cases.

I believe the authors also published some data at some point showing that when they opened up IB class enrollment to many more students and improved their instructional strategies, they actually raised everyone's performance. The argument that inclusion will "dumb down" advanced curricula does not necessarily hold water.

Another revealing bit of information: when the town of Davis, CA, questioned why their gifted students were so disproportionally white, they decided to stop relying on teachers and parents to identify gifted students, and instead, began testing every third grader (or fourth grader? can't recall), and suddenly, they doubled, tripled, or quadrupled the numbers of African-American, Latino, and Native-American students identified as gifted.

So, yes, I highly recommend this book as well!

[Claus]

I look forward to reading this book--Thanks for the very helpful review. I've had the pleasure of meeting Carol Burris and hearing her speak. She was quite inspiring. David is right. Burris can document much better results on IB and AP exams as well.

I wonder whether peer effects are especially helpful in schools where the majority of students are already in the higher track.

[Carol Burris]

Hi! This is Carol Burris, and I am thrilled you liked our book. I just happened across this review and this blog. To answer the question regarding IEPs...yes this does include special ed kids. Regarding the Regents...yes they are easier now, but we made those gains when they were not. Even on this "easier version" our minority students outperform white students in the state on earning the diploma. To those terrific teachers who understand the damage that tracking does.... good for you! You are brave advocates of equity! best regards, Carol