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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]18:23 I think you ask some valid questions.  In  my mind there is a point where motivation matters a lot and that along with background should enable a child to be in an advanced class.  My question is how do you help a kid say between 8-11 catch up if they have had a less rigorous or even less effective early education so that say by 7th grade a tracking system is less about class standing and more about effort and interest?   I think the structural issues that are raised is that so much time is spent on just catching even let alone going forward in many parts of the city, that even a smart motivated child is not getting pulled forward so they could take advantage of an advanced program.   I do know that people will point to KIPP, but if anything that provides the rule who will pay and fund the extra programs and support.  Also maybe even more importantly will get parents to support their kids in these programs?  One of the reasons parents cite for leaving KIPP is that it asked too much of them. [/quote]

Wow! Thank you for understanding!  It's an uphill battle for sure.  But, here is what I believe.  Teachers can and do make a difference.  Certainly, children's motivation matters, but we are typically motivated to do things that we know that we are good at doing.  If I'm told at age 8, that I'm not good at reading, or I perceive that I'm not good at reading, it's going to take a very dedicated teacher to help me be an avid reader.  There is something in education called "the Matthew Effect."  This means that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  Mostly it is used in the area of reading research, but here's the gist...the more you read, the more knowledge you gain, the better you get at actually reading (e.g., fluency, vocabulary, content knowledge, comprehension, etc.).  The poor gets poorer means that every minute my kid is reading and gaining those important knowledge, vocab, fluency skills, the more the kid who isn't reading is falling that much further behind.  So, apply this to the tracking debate and try to think about just how much more a "poor" child will need to do in order to catch up from the gap created by tracking. Each and every day the lower track falls behind. How is it possible to catch up to the higher track?? Certainly, some are there based solely on talent.  However, research indicates this is about 1%.  The rest are there because of opportunity, parent income, excellent teaching, and mostly it's about a function of where you live...[/quote]

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