Crossing the tracks

by Anne Wheelock

One of the most crucial controversies in educational circles today involves the practice of "tracking," or grouping students by ability from the early grades onward. Because the tests that are used to measure "ability" turn out to be a better measure of privilege or deprivation than of innate intelligence, underprivileged children are consistently relegated to the "slow track." Forced into a self-fulfilling and racist prophecy, they must contend with inferior instruction, inequitable resources, and lowered expectations - which all but guarantee their future failure. Crossing the Tracks is a groundbreaking survey of schools throughout the country that have successfully "crossed the tracks" by reintegrating their classrooms. With all the excitement attendant on any effort at monumental reform, schools from Hawaii to Maine, Minnesota to Louisiana, are changing not only the makeup of their classes but their fundamental approach to education. Wheelock documents the actual experiences of sch