Answer to Question 1
b
Answer to Question 2
Tracking refers to the practice of assigning students to specific curriculum groups and
courses on the basis of their test scores, previous grades, or other criteria. Conflict
theorists believe that tracking seriously affects many students' educational
performance and their overall academic accomplishments. In elementary schools,
tracking is often referred to as ability grouping and is based on the assumption that it
is easier to teach a group of students who have similar abilities. However, class-based
factors also affect which children are most likely to be placed in high, middle, or
low groups. Tracking does make it possible for students to work together based on
their perceived abilities and at their own pace however, it also extracts a serious toll
for students who are labeled as underachievers or slow learners.. Race, class,
language, gender, and many other social categories may determine the placement of
children in elementary tracking systems as much as or more than their actual academic
abilities and interests. The practice of tracking continues in middle school/junior high
and high school. Numerous studies over the past three decades have found that ability
grouping and tracking affect students' academic achievement and career choices.
Moreover, some social scientists believe that tracking is one of the most obvious
mechanisms through which students of color and those from low-income families
receive a diluted academic program, which makes it much more likely that they will fall
even farther behind their white, middle-class counterparts.