Abstract: Our current public schools are failing our students of color, of low-socioeconomic status, and of linguistically diverse abilities. The growing cultural mismatch between teachers and their student and the lack of teacher preparation to address this is perpetuating this reality everyday. In order to address this, we must consider how to better implement the tenets of culturally sustaining practices into our teacher education programs. This report reviews research on culturally relevant pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, and culturally sustaining pedagogy; critiques the current teacher education program models regarding these tenets; and it recommends potential approaches for infusing four tenets into future teacher education programs. These tenets include asset-based mindsets, relationship building, student centered classrooms, and sociopolitical consciousness and cultural pluralism.
Detracking is a policy initiative which can be used to address intra-school segregation. When students are tracked, those who are considered exceptional are taught higher order thinking skills to prepare for college, while those who are perceived to be of lower intelligence focus on rote memorization and teaching to standardized tests. The variance in how subjects are taught is problematic not only because one group of students experiences a more holistic style of teaching, but because this difference is correlated with students’ race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (Leonardo & Grubb 2013). Marginalized students are disproportionately tracked into lower level courses, a residual effect which Brown v. Board of Education attempted to assuage, and currently perpetuates segregation in US schools. By reviewing Rockville Center Union Free School District’s (RCUFSD) detracking policy, one can see how this method led to desegregation in classrooms, over time increasing graduation rates, test scores, and college acceptance rates for all subsets of the student population, most notably marginalized groups.
How Did Tracking Even Begin?
Ability-based tracking is intricately connected to racial segregation in schools. When Brown v. Board of Education ruled for the desegregation of schools, systems to perpetuate racism started looking like ability-based tracking instead – ensuring students of color being tracked into lower-level classes (Harry & Klinger, 2014). To fully desegregate our schools, we must reverse this act. Our goal in the study of RCUFSD was to determine how detracking could improve outcomes for marginalized students, with the intent of proposing this method as a means for closing opportunity gaps across the education sector. RCUFSD’s success can be used as an example for other schools interested in implementing a detracked curriculum.
Superintendent Johnson’s Desegregation Theory in Action
During the industrial revolution and the rise of a universal public education system, “white architects of black education…crafted a special form of industrial education, for blacks to substitute older, more cruder methods of socialization, coercion, and control” (Brown, 2011, p. 137). The legacy of these discriminatory practices can be seen in current tracking trends, through the conscious or unconscious bias of teachers and faculty placing students of color in general or vocational tracks, due to the fact that perceived intelligence is still based on the dominant culture’s ideals. It is clear that tracking increased segregation in schools while also reinforcing social roles for students based on racial and ethnic identities (Larson & Ovando, 2001).
Prior to detracking, nearly a quarter of RCUFSD’s South Side High School’s students were Latinx and Black, while 97% of students in the highest tracked class consisted of White and Asian American students – a clear underrepresentation of the marginalized youth (Burris & Garrity, 2008, p. 6). In 1987, his inaugural year, Superintendent William Johnson made the argument to detrack, as he recognized a clear correlation between the opportunity gap and tracking, specifically between low-income students of color and middle-class white students (p. 7). Upon Johnson’s arrival, the “district and state rates of earning Regents diplomas were 58% and 38% respectively” (Burris & Welner, 2005, p. 595). The students failing these exams were “more likely to be African American or Hispanic, to receive free or reduced-price lunch, or to have a learning disability” (p. 596). In South Side High School specifically, 20% of all students were African American or Hispanic, 13% received free and reduced-price lunch, and 10% were enrolled in special education (p. 596). In order to address this “hidden” form of segregation, Johnson began his vision toward integration through detracking the entire district.
How’d He Do? Rockville Centre Union Free School District was successful in integrating their schools as a result of their decade long detracking process. This can be seen through growth of minority students enrollment in IB classes, achievement in standardized exams, and completion of Regents and IB diplomas. Results of student success were clear from the beginning; while in 2000 only “32% of all African American or Hispanic [graduates] earned Regents diplomas,” by 2003, the opportunity gap had closed drastically, resulting in 82% of all African American or Hispanic graduates earning Regents diplomas (Burris & Welner, 2005, p. 597). The overall achievement of the district showed immense growth, and the numbers specific to minority students were key signifiers of the high quality of desegregation the system of detracking permitted.
There were multiple factors that led to this success, such as RCUFSD’s teacher and parent buy-in, their methodical integration plan, and a superintendent who remained in the district for 31 years. If the teachers had not believed in the value of detracking, the district would have never achieved fully desegregated classes. The decision to create a single level, high track curriculum played a key role in desegregating classrooms. Slowly, coursework “leveled-up,” all students rose to the challenge, and heterogeneous grouping was an overwhelming success (Burris & Garrity, 2008). A single leader and clear vision in the district for 31 years allowed for the success and maintained growth RCUFSD continues to see.
When a district is prepared to take on the process, Burris & Garrity (2008) suggest these steps as best practices: engage in thoughtful study, begin where tracking starts, begin with teachers who are interested, eliminate the lowest track first, and open gates through choice. Collecting and comparing data one class at a time allows for a thoughtful integration process and supports the effectiveness of the program (Burris & Garrity, 2008, p. 26). Beginning with teachers who are interested allows for minimal push-back and massive capacity for change. Once these teachers have success, other teachers will be more likely adopt these practices in their own classrooms. Low-track, deficit-mindset focused classes must be the first to be eliminated (p. 27). If these classes remain, the students are doomed to stay segregated; “providing differentiated instruction in a heterogeneous class enhances each student’s academic, social, and emotional learning experience,” so it becomes the best option (p. 29).
Until a single, high-level course is created for each subject, higher-level courses should be the default, giving students and parents the ability to “opt-out,” but instilling the asset-based mindset that will eventually lead to full integration success (Burris & Garrity, 2008, p. 32). For best results, Burris & Garrity (2008) insist a district “cannot achieve long-term success without making a commitment to the development of a strong curriculum that preserves high standards for student learning” (p. 32). Once this is achieved, the district has the potential for classroom desegregation.
Spread the Word
RCUFSD is a prime example of how a successful detracking policy can increase marginalized students’ achievement and attainment while simultaneously decreasing classroom segregation. Using RCUFSD as an example, successful detracking must be done slowly, starting at the lowest tracked grade, and the district must work to create buy-in from teachers, parents, and administrators.
Using RCUFSD as a Case Study, we consolidated their best practices into a cheat sheet for all! Click here to view the Steps of Detracking.
This graph represents the growth of students’ test scores during the first 5 years of detracking at RCUFSD.
