What You Need to Know About Tracking and Ability Grouping in Schools

Removing "tracks" from public education has become a hot button issue among school reformers and education researchers in the past twenty years. The challenge is to move away from tracks and towards programs that promote both equity and excellence. However, it is important to note that not all grouping of students of similar ability levels is harmful. But the way such groups are generally formed in public schools is not often based on valid measures. The ability grouping that occurs in public schools is too often based on race and socioeconomic status rather than on valid measures of educational achievement or potential. This article is not call for an end to all ability grouping; rather, I will espouse a less rigid version that allows for more flexibility and promotes equity.

It is important to understand the difference between tracking and ability grouping. Tracking is generally associated with programs that divide students into different academic groups across the curriculum, be it math, science, language arts, social studies, or beyond. Such tracks are generally difficult to reverse and are marked by students being physically separated from students in other tracks (different classrooms, teachers, wings of the school, etc.). Ability grouping is defined as a more flexible tracking system that groups students by ability in various subjects. For example, a student may be 'advanced' in science but 'remedial' in language arts. These ability groups are subject to more frequent modification with students fairly free to move from group to group based on need and desire. While both these systems segregate students into different learning environments, it is tracking that is the most racially motivated and damaging to learners.