European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 4, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pupil a tracks a Means of desegregation Cho by Ronald smothers new York times the Battles Over voting rights school integration and Public accommodations have Long been More or less settled but some Blacks in the South say they now face subtler forms of discrimination. In education they say it shows up in Public school tracking systems and the Issue was at the heart of Black protests in Selma ala., in february. Although ubiquitous and ingrained in american education tracking is nevertheless divisive. It is based on the proposition that children of nearly equal abilities should be grouped together for learning because they absorb knowledge at the same Pace making for instructional efficiency. Yet it is hard to find studies that support the practice As educationally sound. The matter is All the More contentious because of accusations that it is widely used to relegate a disproportionate number of Blacks to slow learner Low achieving classes while White children Are Given the advantages of More challenging courses and teachers. A what most studies show is that mixed ability grouping does t Hurt High achieving students and in fact helps those of lower achievement Levels Quot said Robert e. Slavin co director of the elementary school program at the Johns Hopkins University Center for social organization of schools. Quot where students Are grouped the Low ability groups get slower instruction lower expectations behaviour problems increase and Low achievement becomes a self fulfilling  in Many Southern communities like Selma the practice is viewed by critics As a Way of perpetuating racial prejudices and discriminatory practices. At the heart of the controversy in Selma was the decision by the school Board not to renew the contract of or. Norward Roussell the City s first Black schools superintendent who had made changes in the tracking system. The key to maintaining Selma s 30 percent White enrolment said several White parents who were angered by Rousselle a changes was the advanced placement and College preparatory courses offered in the High schools. Such courses were not available in the two Allwhite private schools that were started in the 1960s As a Way to avoid school integration. Few White parents acknowledge that their children have been getting preferential treatment in the Selma schools but Many have begun to pull their children out although they usually cite the Black protests rather than changes in the tracking system As the reason. Blacks applauded Roussell s reforms which set out Clear Cut criteria for placement where before there was they said a curious subjectivity that dumped nearly All Black students in lower tracks. Carolyn Varner an organizer of the group of Black parents opposing the Selma tracking system said that before Rousselle a changes 3 percent of Black students at the High school were in the High ability track while 90 percent of the White students were placed in that track. When the superintendent s reforms were adopted the percentage of Black students in the High track jumped to 10 percent. Quot before the 60s we had separate and segregated schools Quot said Hank Sanders a state senator who represents the Selma area Quot and then came this tracking which was a Way of students walking through the same school doors and getting segregated once they got  such practices Are common in Southern school districts and exist in the North As Well said Phyllis Mcclure an education specialist with the a act Legal defense and education fund inc. But accusations of racial discrimination in Lilli Fps v s4.o0 \0 in \ after a racial dispute kept school closed for a week classes resumed under heavy guard at Selma Ala High school in mid february. A tracking Are rarely upheld she said because the courts tend to Quot give great deference to educators and presume that they Are making decisions in the Best interest of  last year the House education and labor committee asked the general accounting office to investigate the department of education a handling of such cases of Quot in school discrimination Quot said Franklin Frazier director of employment and education issues for the Agency. Its study began in december. In the View of Jeannie Oakes author of keeping track How schools Structure inequality poor and minority students Are disproportionately placed in tracks for Low ability students. A study of the Washington system dating from the 1960s found that 90 percent of the City s students once put in a track remained in those tracks for their entire school lives. A More recent study of 173 Urban school districts from 1973 to 1982 found evidence that ability grouping was used to reduce racial heterogeneity in the classroom and halt Quot White  what keeps discriminatory tracking in place is not always a matter of Law or Public policy experts say. Parents Are the biggest backers of ability grouping especially Middle class and upper Middle class parents said Jeffrey Schneider a program development specialist with the National education association. In addition some teachers simply find it easier to present material to an intellectually homogeneous group. But Slavin of Johns Hopkins said the earlier the age at which students Are tracked the higher the potential for harmful effects. Quot it seems unjustified up to eighth Grade because those Are the years when kids Are getting and developing All of the same Basic skills that All people should have Quot he said. Quot from that Point on it makes some sense to have some grouping based on what comes next for a child College or a vocation. But the thing that is most distasteful about it is the earlier you Start tracking you Are making decisions that could have serious impacts on kids for the rest of their lives. It seems that once you Are in a Low track you re in it for  w of o a in o o cd stars and stripes bookstores stars and stripes bookstores this month s super discount on professional military literature co in prevention world Whf Iii a i coding american strategist uncovers the hidden fragility i. A r. A. R.__1.1. A not nil a it renin new ill inn it of the superpower peace that i foundations Are rapidly eroding. 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