High Stakes Testing for Tracking, Promotion, and Graduation (1999) / Chapter Skim
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5 Tracking
5 Tracking
Pages 89-113
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From page 89... ...
5 By: g In a typical American elementary or secondary school, the curriculum serves two purposes that often exist in tension with each other. One is to have all students master a common core of knowledge, an objective reflected in the current emphasis on "high stanciarcis for all." The other is to provide curricular c3 ifferentiation c3 ifferentiatec3 instruction suited to students' varied needs, interests, anc3 achievement levels (Gamoran anc3 Weinstein, 1998~.
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From page 90... ...
The term "homogeneous" suggests that all the students in a given group are alike, or at least similar, in their achievement levels. Empirical studies cast doubt on this assumption, however.
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From page 91... ...
In the last clecacle, however, there has been an increase in heterogeneous grouping within elementary schools, anc3 new techniques, such as cooperative learning, offer promising ways of grouping children heterogeneously within classrooms (Slavin et al., 1989, 19961. Tracking also remains typical in American secondary schools (Oakes 2An exam school is a public school to which students apply and are accepted based on exemplary test performance and academic record.
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From page 92... ...
We note with interest that results from the Second Interna 3According to national survey data, 60 to 70 percent of the 10th graders in honors mathematics classes also took honors English, and there was similar overlap of students faking remedialmathematics end remedialEnglish (Gamoran, 1988~. We do not know, however, how much of this overlap was due to the school schedule and how much to the correlation of student achievement levels across subjects.
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From page 93... ...
On the other hand, stanciarclizec3 tests are routinely used in making tracking decisions (Glaser anc3 Silver, 1994; Meisels, 1989~. Moreover, they may play an important, even dominant, role in selecting children for exam schools anc3 gifted anc3 talented programs.5 {Q tests play an impor' tent part in the special education evaluation process, anc3 their use con' tributes to the disproportionate placement of minority students into 4"The class component of variance accounted for almost half of the total variability in performance in the U.S., whereas the class component accounted for a much smaller fraction of the total variability in most other countries (Linn, 1998a 3 )
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From page 94... ...
finc3 evidence of negative consequences from the use of selection tests for placement in tracks.9 Meisels (1989) also contends that some stanciarclizec3 tests are used inappropriately for tracking purposes and rec' ommencis that other, more appropriate stanciarclizec3 tests be used in making tracking ciecisions.l° Finally, a recent report prepared for the Na' 6Although the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
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From page 95... ...
PSYCHOMETRICS OF PLACEMENT Tracking decisions are basically placement decisions, anc3 tests used for this purpose should meet professional test stanciarcis regarding place'
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From page 96... ...
For example, students who get high scores on a placement test of spatial ability should in fact be found to learn more in a physics course in which the problems are expressec3 in pictures than they would in a physics course in which similar problems were expressed in numbers. Other assumptions underlying test use for tracking decisions include: that the test taps the knowlege, skills, or other attributes it is interpreted to measure; that the outscore chosen is an accurate discriminator of the attribute measured in relation to the associated levels of benefit; and that the test scores have comparable meanings and properties for all students.
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From page 97... ...
For example, if a student performs in a particular way on a math test, that performance should help predict whether the student will be better served by being placed in one type or level of math course rather than another (American Educational Research Association et al., 1985: Stanciarcis 1.20 to 1.23, 8.10, and 8.11; 1998~. This is true not only when the possible placements include alternative math courses, but also when the choice is between placement in a gifted and talented class or a more traditional class, or when the choice is between special education and general ecluca' tion.
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From page 98... ...
To the extent possible, however, the content of such tests should be relevant to the experiences to which the student will be exposed (American Educational Research Association et al., 1985: Stanciarcis 6.1 anc3 6.4; 1998~. For example, in the case of a math test used to aid in placing a student in a beginning or acivancec3 algebra course, the validity of score interpretation may be enhanced by ensuring that the test adequately covers the relevant content anc3 thought processes in the knowledge domain it is interpreted to measure (that domain could be algebra but might also be general mathematics)
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From page 99... ...
13For example, if various points on the scale were benchmarked by exemplary items, along with associated descriptions of the cognitive processes involved in item performance, outscores could be set directly as points on the scale. This would involve judgments about what level of process complexity (and of associated benchmark exercises)
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From page 100... ...
More work is required up front by the test developer in constructing the scale and in developing benchmarks and process descriptions for scale levels, but then the subsequent outscore judgments by test users become both more informed and more straightforward. 14During the stages of test design and development, judgmental review and statistical procedures are employed by many test publishers as a way to detect and eliminate biased items or tasks.
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From page 101... ...
Although studies of these types of side effects may not often be part of initial test cievelopment, the test user should include a well- ciesignec3 evaluation component to monitor the intenciec3 and unintenciec3 consequences of tracking on all students and on significant subgroups of students, including minorities, English- language learners, and students with disabilities. EFFECTS OF LOW-TRACK PLACEMENT "Decisions about a stucient's track placement," a previous National Research Council report concluclec3, "should be based on predictions about what track will produce the most beneficial expected educational procedures are also problematic with performance-type assessments due to the small number of items involved, which makes it difficult to match students.
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From page 102... ...
And what made some of these low-track classes educationally beneficial appears to have been such factors as high teacher expectations, small class size, extra resources that permitted individualized instruction, strong intellectual leadership, a rigorous academic curriculum, extra efforts by teachers to promote extensive class discussion, the capacity to choose students and teachers, and "no system of assigning inexperienced or weak teachers to the low-track classes" (Gamoran, 1993:1; Gamoran and Weinstein, 19981. Unfortunately, however, empirical research demonstrates that there is a very different reality in typical low-track classes.
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From page 103... ...
For example, "teachers of low~ability secondary science and mathematics classes are consistently less experienced, less likely to be certified in math or science, hold fewer degrees in those subjects, have less training in the use of computers, and less often report themselves to be 'master teachers"' (Oakes et al., 1992:583~.16 Access to Know~eclge In elementary school, students in low tracks proceed by design at a slower pace than do students in higher tracks. Consequently, students who have been in high~track classes "are likely to have covered consider' 16''These differences remain even when qualification differences for teachers among various types of schools (e.g., schools serving various racial and socioeconomic student populations)
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From page 104... ...
"In secondary schools, low-track classes consistently offer greater exposure to less ciemancling topics anc3 skills, whereas high-track classes typically include more complex material anc3 more difficult thinking anc3 problem-solving tasks" (Oakes et al., 1992:583, citing Burgess, 1983, 1984; Hargreaves, 1967; Keciclie, 1971; Metz, 1978; Oakes, 1985; Page, 1989; Powell et al., 1985; Sanders et al., 1987; Squires, 1966; anc3 Trimble anc3 Sinclair, 1986~. "At both the elementary anc3 secondary levels, teachers of low-ability classes reported giving less emphasis than teachers of other classes to such matters as students' interest in math anc3 science .
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From page 105... ...
~111. As tracking is currently practiced in the United States, students will need to be eclucatec3 in settings other than typical low-track classes if they are to receive the high-quality curriculum anc3 instruction they need to "master challenging content anc3 complex problem solving skills." Disproportions Basecl on Race, National Origin, Language, and SES Research on patterns of student stratification has found clisproportionate percentages of low-SES students anc3 minority students in curricula ciesignec3 for low-ability anc3 noncollege-bounc3 students (Gamoran and Mare, 1989; Moore and Davenport, 1988; National CenterforEclucational Statistics, 1985; Oakes, 1990; Braciclock, 1990~.
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From page 106... ...
Whether it is clue to test scores or other information, the committee sees cause for concern in the fact that minority students anc3 low-SES students are proportionately overrepresentecl in a classes typically charac' terizec3 by an exclusive focus on basic skills, low expectations, anc3 less' qualified teachers. The committee's findings anc3 recommendations about tracking are reported in Chapter 12.
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From page 107... ...
1989 Tracking and the Distribution of Status in Secondary Schools. Paper presented at the annual meeting, American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA.
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From page 108... ...
Gamoran, A., and M Berends 1987 The effects of stratification in secondary schools: Synthesis of survey and ethnographic research.
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From page 109... ...
Paper presented at the annual meeting, American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA. 1998b Validating inferences from National Assessment of Educational Progress Achievement-Level Reporting.
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From page 110... ...
National Center for Education Statistics 1985 High School and Beyond: Art Analysis of Course~takir~g Patterns ire Secondary Schools as Related to Student Characteristics. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.
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1990 Curriculum Differer~tiatiorr: Interpretive Studies ire U.S. Secondary Schools.
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From page 112... ...
1986 Tracking: Can It Benefit Low-achieving Students? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Franciso, CA.
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From page 113... ...
1997~. Title I, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 20 U.S.C.
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