The following is a list of news articles in recent years that describe the removal of tracking, honors classes, or accelerated pathways at schools around the country due to equity concerns. It is striking that many stories feature school districts making abrupt changes that took parents by surprise.
A new mathematics curriculum, that aims in part to replace the current calculus track with a more equitable sequence of courses at the middle school and high school levels has prompted parents to petition the district for a pause until they receive more information about the change.
Shaker Heights sorted students by ability level, and the top classes always had more White students. In the pandemic, it unraveled this ‘tracking.’
Oakland County, Michigan - 2023 May 16 - Troy school board OKs new middle school math curriculum
Despite pleas from students and parents to hold off on changes to middle school math, the Troy schools board of education approved a new curriculum that takes younger students off an accelerated path starting next school year.
Washington DC - 2023 March 2 - Middle School Administration Eliminates Math Tracking Program
The middle school administration opted to replace the seventh and eighth grade advanced and regular math program with integrated math classes for the 2022-2023 school year, as well as subsequent years. The administration had been reconsidering the tracked math program since the IB significantly altered its math curriculum in the fall of 2020, according to Middle School Principal Randy Althaus.
Plans to do away with the accelerated math track prompted pushback from some parents and teachers, who say it allows high-flyers to flourish and gain college admission credentials rather than languish in math classes paced too slow or aimed too low for their abilities.
Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington took on this test with a vengeance last year. For ninth-graders and some 10th grade classes, it did away with three academic class levels – “tracks” like honors – that separated students by achievement and aptitude.
It appears teachers are bearing the brunt of a genuine and earnest attempt to overhaul education, backed by large grants from education philanthropies that encourage these kinds of reforms.
Las Cruces Public Schools continues to come under scrutiny for planned curriculum changes at the middle school level, which includes a pause on sixth-grade honors classes.
More than 150 parents and district representatives gathered virtually to address Patrick Henry High School’s plan to eliminate eight advanced and honors classes from its offerings, including advanced English, History and biology.
Parents and students learned of the changes through an earlier email from Irwin, which said the course adjustments would create a more balanced heterogeneously grouped classes, eliminate the stigma of non-weighted courses, and provide a well-balanced course offering for all students.
Kingston, New York - 2022 April 11 - Kingston school district pushes combined program back a year
The Kingston City School District is delaying plans to offer combined honors and Regents-level English and Social Studies courses for freshmen, but despite concerns from parents and teachers alike, school officials explained that a decision implementing the program for the 2023-24 school year has already been made.
The school made the changes without any input from the parents, she said, which created confusion after the principal sent an email to families in January notifying them of the move to the embedded honors program next year.
Northampton, Massachusetts - 2022 April 1 - Northampton Principal Suspended Amid Scandal
Causing outcry from students and parents alike, the decision to make significant changes to the school’s math program was made by principal Lori Vaillancourt, who cited issues relating to “equity” as explanation for the abrupt shift.
In the highest-performing school district in Rhode Island, parents are in a tizzy over eliminating honors classes, arguing that it hurts students who are exceptional as well as those struggling to master the material.
Embedded in the controversy is a deeper complaint that school officials have not done a good job explaining their rationale for combining three levels of instruction into one in core subjects and, as of Friday, eliminating the honors designation in English and social studies.
Santa Monica, California - 2022 March 16 - Honors English to be removed in bid to close learning gap
In the fall of 2022, 9th and 10th grade English students will no longer have to choose between English Honors Prep and College Prep levels, for both levels will be combined. With this integration of both levels of English , Samo’s English Department intends to contribute to closing the learning gap between students from different backgrounds and to diversifying classrooms. This change has prompted some resistance from angered parents.
Administrators at the April 5 meeting enthusiastically endorsed eliminating standalone honors classes.
“This is an anti-racist strategy. Earned honors supports our commitment to truly becoming an anti-racist institution. It allows us to set a bar of excellence for all of our students, for 100 percent of our students,” said Kaylee Jackson, executive director for curriculum.
The Corvallis School District has adopted a new way to teach math in schools, a shift some parents say has their children no longer feeling challenged or excited with the subject. More than 60 united families in the district are engaged in the issue and believe the district has not been transparent or even particularly communicative about these changes.
But Dr. Evers, the former Education Department official, pointed to research suggesting that the data on math achievement in places like San Francisco was more cherry-picked than conclusive. He added that California’s proposed framework could take a more nuanced approach to de-tracking, which he saw as a blunt tool that did not take the needs of individual districts into account.
Oak Park, Illinois - 2021 November 2 - Unanimous OPRF board OKs end of tracking for freshmen
Come next fall, OPRF freshmen will be placed in one rigorous, high-level course for history, English and world languages, instead of being split up into honors or college prep tracks.
FHSD began considering the drastic course removal when “tracking” of past students in advanced classes revealed that they were, on average, more successful later in life. Due to advanced classes having fewer minority students than the District desires, their solution is to have every child take the same classes, regardless if the curriculum is too advanced or too underwhelming for students.
Salt Lake City, Utah - 2021 July 1 - East High School rethinks its approach to ‘honors’ classes
By ‘detracking’ its classes, East hopes to remove racial divisions.
Vancouver, Canada - 2021 June 16 - Vancouver School Board scrapping honours math, science programs
The Vancouver School Board’s decision to do away with honours math and science programs has sparked criticism from parents, and a past participant who says the move will not actually advance equity.
New York, NY - 2021 June 8 - Parents rage as top NYC school plans to end advanced math program
A top Manhattan middle school sent parents into a rage when it announced that it was junking accelerated math classes — and agreed to hold meetings first amid the backlash.
LaGuardia High School is backing away from a contentious plan to reduce Advanced Placement courses following an outcry from parents.
When I called Virginia State Superintendent of Public Instruction James F. Lane to ask about this, he insisted that the state has no plans to eliminate tracking (separate classes for students at different levels) from kindergarten through 10th grade, even though the VMPI website strongly suggests that ending tracking is key to the suggested reforms.
Shaker Heights, Ohio - Spring 2021 - A Sustainable Education for All Students
The Shaker Heights City School District is eliminating racially segregated classrooms and ending the practice of tracking students. These changes are aligned with the District’s educational equity policy and will positively impact students now and in the future.
A selective program for high-performing fourth, fifth and sixth graders in Boston has suspended enrollment due to the pandemic and concerns about equity in the program, GBH News has learned.
A New York school district limits tracking amid concerns that students of color are overrepresented in lower-level math and that kids in higher-level math aren’t benefiting. Parents are pushing back.
Starting in the 2020-2021 school year, the district intends to merge all students into a single math lane in seventh- and eighth-grade math classes, creating heterogeneous classrooms that would ideally prepare all incoming high schoolers to take a Geometry course having confidently passed Algebra I.
With this move, the district plans to integrate the advanced learning middle school students with their general education peers for language arts and social studies classes. It continues a trend the district began in elementary schools years ago.
Courses such as AVID are a step several Michigan school districts are taking to build equity in education. Others are taking different paths, such as eliminating honors courses in favor of “mixed-ability” classrooms, that school leaders hope will encourage more girls to get into math and science fields.
New York, NY - 2019 August 26 - Desegregation Plan: Eliminate All Gifted Programs in New York
A group appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed seismic changes to the nation’s largest school system.
Cambridge, MA - 2019 August 9 - Is It Time to Detrack Math?
Districts are moving to end the practice of tracking as research suggests that it may deepen educational inequities—with little benefit for students’ academic performance.
Callahan Middle School quietly eliminated its advanced classes this school year, without notifying parents.
“We believe, and there is a body of research to support, that mixed ability classrooms are what’s best for students. We are confident in the abilities of our teachers to differentiate instruction in the classroom to meet the needs of all students.”