Reply to How would you change the FCPS boundary maps?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In my opinion, the solution to all these problems is to simply have tracking in elementary schools. We already have them in middle and high schools, in the form of honors, AP, IB, Dual - Enrollment, the existence of TJHSST, etc. So why not simply have tracking in elementary school? Make every elementary schooler who doesn't attend a private school go to the elementary school closest to their house. But separate children by academic ability starting in kindergarten itself. To be clear, I am not saying this has to be a fixed thing. A student can be in the class for regular students in Kindergarten, but can end up in the highest ability level class in 1st grade if they show a drastic improvement in their abilities. Conversely a child who falls behind may have to go from the advanced class to the regular class. This way every student can be in a class with students with similar academic abilities, but they can be assured that it can always change if their performance increased or decreases. In addition, an exception can be made for those with children on the very low and very high end of the intellectual spectrum; they do not have to attend a local school if they believe their child's needs will be met better elsewhere. Though by very high intellect I am talking about actual geniuses like Terence Tao, not just a typical above average student that ends up getting into TJHSST. [/quote]

When FCPS did not have AAP and/or only had a very small GT program, it was not uncommon for classes for a particular elementary grade or subject area to be sorted by ability (especially math) or, if not, for teachers to teach to sub-groups within their class (especially reading).  Then in middle school there was more clear differentiation in the class assignments, and by high school students were recommended or screened before they could take AP classes (this was before FCPS's brief period of infatuation with IB in the late 90s/early 00s).

All of that, of course, is anathema to those who believe such tracking consigns lower-income kids and non-Asian minorities to less demanding classes.  That's why we now have ever-growing AAP programs, TJ admitting kids by school pyramid rather than simply by performance, few if any restrictions on who can take AP or IB courses, and the prospect of less, not more, differentiation in math instruction.  Trying to pull off a "Back to the Future" approach now is no small task. [/quote]

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