Education Commons^™

Minding The Gap: Analyzing The Role Of Guidance Counselors In High School Ability Grouping, Marisa Underberger

Honors Theses

This project investigates the role of the guidance counselor in high school tracking and ability grouping. Tracking and ability grouping are controversial topics among high schools because they can create a “school within a school” where the low-income-minority students are in lower tracks while the high-income white students are in the advanced classes. Scholars have debated if detracking, or heterogeneous grouping, is the answer, but the concern is that slower learners will hold advanced students back. When deciding which classes students should be enrolled in, teachers, parents, students, and guidance counselors all contribute their opinions. Guidance counselors play a crucial …

Equality Of Opportunity: The Relationship Between Tracking And Educational Outcomes, Chris Colgren

Theses and Dissertations

To explore tracking policies and practices in relation to achievement equity, this quantitative study examined the relationship and differences between students who have completed Advanced Placement (AP)/Honors courses and those who have not in traditional Illinois public high schools. Using a cross-sectional survey design, the study used secondary data from the Illinois State Board of Education indicating high school students' socioeconomic status, race, placement in AP/Honors courses, and ACT scores to answer five research questions that reflected a general understanding of tracking policies and practices as currently employed in American public schools. Specifically, the study addressed the following questions:

1. …

The Role Of Teachers In Ability-Tracked Mathematics Classrooms, Danyelle M. Doldoorian

Senior Theses and Projects

Tracking, or ability grouping, is a salient feature of the American education system. As opposed to most studies on tracking which investigate student achievement and student experiences, this study investigates the role of teachers in a tracked curriculum. The goals of this study are to discover how teachers feel about tracking and to understand how teachers operate their classrooms with respect to the different ability groups. I conducted observations of tracked middle and high school mathematics classrooms and directed interviews with the teachers of these tracked classes. I found that teachers alter their language, classroom pace, quality of review, and …

A Consideration Of Tracking Within A Bounded Educational System, Scott David Ripley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

American education is built upon a cultural paradigm of equality and access. Tracking students into homogenous classes based on prior academic performance could disadvantage lower-achieving students, thereby reinforcing inequality. The problem in the study district is that homogenous tracking was implemented, yet the system had not been evaluated within the context of implementation. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine educators' perceptions of the practice of tracking. Bandura and Maslow's social cognitive theory provided the conceptual framework and Dewey's beliefs on social justice and a spirit of equity provided the theoretical foundation. Open-ended narrative questionnaires were disseminated …

The Effect Of Ability Grouping For Talmud On The Academic Self-Concept Of Jewish Orthodox Middle School Students, Yitzchak Tzvi Goldberg

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have examined the relationship between ability grouping and academic self-concept in math, science, and English, and have found varying results. However, previous studies have not examined the relationship between ability grouping and academic self-concept for the subject of Talmud. Middle school presents a unique opportunity to examine this relationship because middle school is when both ability grouping for Talmud and the study of Talmud begin. The purpose of this correlational study was to assess the relationship between ability grouping and the academic self-concept for Talmud in middle school students. The predictive relationship among individual academic achievement, school average achievement, …