Abstract:
Social scientists have indicated to us that behind almost any social phenomena there is a complex web of interconnected causes. There is no one direct cause. This is especially true of the outcomes in our educational process.Research makes clear that processes internal to the system have a far larger role than was attributed earlier in determining the effectiveness of organizations.
In the case of our educational system, it is becoming more evident that there are fundamental defects in policies, programs, and procedures that directly contribute to inequality of opportunity, deviancy and alienation of the students . It is very important to understand what these defects are and how they affect the student if we are to have an effective and progressive educational system.
In this particular study the component researched was the tracking system (ability grouping).
Many school systems use the tracking system as they assign their students to classes according to intelligence or achievement. These classes or tracks are composed of students with similar abilities.They may be placed in slow, regular or fast tracks. The students who are assigned to a slow track may be in the vocational program whereas students placed in fast tracks may be in the college bound program.
The track to which a student is assigned represents a social position. It carries status and value connotations, therefore possibly hindering social and educational outcomes. Evidence points out that tracking serves as an ineffective educational instrument for students assigned to non-college preparatory programs.
In reference to the tracking system and its relationship to behavior, a sample of senior high school students from a midwestern four-year high school was utilized for the study . During the summer of 1974, diverse data was collected from official school transcripts, court records, and police records . The data was collected on a sample from a class which had entered a midwestern four year high school in September of 1967.
The following two null hypothesis were tested:
1. There will be no statistically significant relationship between track positions and incidents of juvenile delinquency for those students who enrolled in 1967 as freshmen and graduated in 1971 at Warren Western Reserve High School in Warren, Ohio.
2. There will be no statistically significant relationship between track positions and incident of arrest for those students who enrolled in 1967 as freshmen and graduated in 1971 at Warren Western Reserve High School located in Warren, Ohio.
Both hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance.
Each null hypothesis of no significant difference was statistically rejected at the .05 significance level.
From the high school studied , non-college bound students experienced greater arrest and delinquency rates. The data from this study did identify some detrimental effects of tracking , but left unanswered other questions concerning tracking. More empirical data are needed before definite conclusions can be drawn.