The Track System
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Although racial tension was at the heart of many of the problems
in D.C. public schools, it was not the only problem the schools
faced. Many teachers had to deal with a wide range of student
abilities in the same classroom; some of the brighter students
were literally years ahead of some of the slower ones. This situation
was difficult for the teachers, the brighter students, and the
slower students. The problem tied directly into integration;
the vast majority of the brighter students were white, while nearly
all the slower students were black. To alleviate this problem,
Carl Hansen, the superintendant, set up a "track system."
School officials placed students in tracks based on I.Q. tests
and on teacher recommendations; students with an I.Q. below 75
entered the remedial or "basic" track, students with
an I.Q. above 120 went to the "honors" track, and the
rest of the students could choose between the "general"
track and the "college preparatory" track. The track
system had its critics, but its results spoke for themselves.
Scores on acheivement tests rose by as much as 14 percentile points
in the first few years of the system.
[5]
Hansen later extended
tracking to the city's junior high and elementary schools, but
this proved to be quite controversial and in Hobson v. Hansen,
Judge Skelly Wright ordered the destruction of the track system.
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Copyright © 1995 Lisa Cozzens
(lisa@www.watson.org
).
Please read this
before you email me!
URL for this page: http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/school-integration/washdc/track.html
Last modified: Mon Jun 22, 1998