Do tracked schools have same effect as tracking within a school?
Tracking within schools has been shown in many studies to have negative effects
on students, but what about the effects of tracked schools (academic and
vocational schools)?
A new study of Flemish students published in the American Educational
Research Journal finds that vocational students who attend schools with
multiple tracks have slightly lower study involvement than vocational students
who attend vocational schools. There was no difference in study involvement for
academic students attending both types of schools.
"The data suggest that in multilateral schools, vocational students compared
themselves with academic track students, consistent with the hypothesis of
increased status deprivation, resulting in even stronger antischool attitudes,"
the authors write.
In Flanders, as in other European countries, a rigid form of tracking is
applied, explain the authors. The researchers analyzed data on 5,910 secondary
school students in Flanders who were in the equivalent of U.S. grades 9 and 11.
The students attended 66 secondary schools in Flanders. Study involvement was
measured with a 6-item scale assessing general feelings of study engagement,
such as "I don't like to study," "studying is a waste of time," etc.
"Since the late 1960s, research has demonstrated repeatedly that students in
lower tracks develop an antischool culture to overcome the status deprivation
resulting from being in a lower track," the authors write.
They do not want to imply by the study that within-school tracking should be
abandoned and replaced by between-school tracking. Flemish research has shown
that tracking not only causes academic divergence between groups of students,
but it also leads to the development of distinct cultural and political
attitudes and values.
"Unless it is desirable for society to develop into a dual society on the
basis of educational attainment, between-school tracking should not be
encouraged," the authors write.
"Study Involvement of Academic and Vocational Students: Does
Between-School Tracking Sharpen the Difference?" by Mieke Van Houtte and Peter
Stevens. American Educational Research Journal, December 2009, Volume 46, Issue
4, pps. 943-974.
Other research briefs
Do tracked schools have same effect
as tracking within a school?
Students overestimate memory,
underestimate studying
Collaboration models for general ed
and special ed teachers
Stereotype consciousness related to
underperformance for some groups
Blog: Is your school the
"Gypsy school"?
| 
