Access denied: Tracking as a modern roadblock to equal educational opportunity

It has been more than sixty years since 'Brown v. Board of Education', and our country still presents children with dual and unequal systems of education. Not only are students segregated between school districts, but segregation is happening within school buildings as well as through trac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	New York University law review (1950) Vol. 93; no. 4; pp. 903 - 940
Main Author:	Miller, Viona J
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	New York City, NY New York University School of Law 01-10-2018 New York University Law Publications
Subjects:	Access to education Advanced Placement program Advanced placement programs (Education) Children & youth CIVIL LIBERTIES Civil rights Constitutional amendments CONSTITUTIONAL LAW Curricula EDUCATION Education policy Educational equalization Efficiency EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Equality Evaluation Law and legislation School districts Segregation Social aspects U.S. states UNITED STATES
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Summary:	It has been more than sixty years since 'Brown v. Board of Education', and our country still presents children with dual and unequal systems of education. Not only are students segregated between school districts, but segregation is happening within school buildings as well as through tracking. Tracking is the process by which students are placed into higher or lower subject-specific courses such as math or science - sometimes as early as elementary school - based on their perceived abilities. This practice prohibits many students from accessing high-level courses. Courses such as Advanced Placement (AP) and honors classes have become indispensable for applying to college, but under a tracked system, if students do not take advanced classes in middle school, they will likely not be able to take advanced courses before graduating high school. Proponents of tracking argue that it is an efficient model of education that allows students to learn based on their skill level, but research shows that students are tracked along racial and class lines rather than on "ability." Tracking causes both academic and psychological harm to students in lower tracks, and the opportunities students in higher tracks receive, as opposed to their innate intellectual abilities, are what cause them to succeed. In this note, I argue that tracking is an inherently inequitable system that should be abolished since it denies so many students the resources, learning opportunities, and access to higher-level courses needed to succeed in today's society.
Bibliography:	2019-09-10T16:49:26+10:00 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW, Vol. 93, No. 4, Oct 2018: 903-940 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW, Vol. 93, No. 4, Oct 2018, 903-940 Informit, Melbourne (Vic)
ISSN:	0028-7881