Reaching Detracking Goals in Secondary Education: What the Detracking Literature Tells Us About the Factors That Facilitate the Effectiveness of Detracking

• In Event: Educational Policy and Social Change

Proposal

In 2020, the province of Ontario decided to detrack its Grade 9 curricula in all schools after recent research found inequalities by race, gender, and socio-economic status between students by track level (James & Turner, 2017; Parekh, 2013; Parekh, et al., 2021). This directly relates to the CIES 2024 conference theme: “The Power of Protest”, because it was through the advocacy of parents, students, and researchers for more equitable student opportunities in secondary education that instigated this change. Though grounded in good intentions, detracking policies tend to focus on the process of detracking while ignoring factors that contribute to the inequities in the first place. Indeed, there are documented cases of unsuccessful detracking (Rubin, 2008; Yonezawa, Wells & Serna, 2002), meaning detracking alone may not be enough to ensure more equitable outcomes for all students. The purpose of this scoping review is to examine detracking case studies that report specific outcomes of detracking interventions. The objective is to present findings of key factors that facilitate the success of detracking initiatives in secondary education. My research question is, what are key factors that facilitate successful detracking implementation in classes and schools in secondary education?

Methodology
A scoping review is best to meet the objective of this paper because it is broad in purpose and focuses on descriptive characteristics of the included sources of evidence. Further, because there are no standard approaches to detracking reform, with detracking practices varying widely by jurisdiction and school, comparisons are difficult to do, making a scoping review more appropriate to conduct for this study. For this review I followed the scoping review guidelines outlined by The Joanna Briggs Institute's (JBI). I used the PCC (population/concept/context) framework to develop both my inclusion/exclusion criteria, and a focused protocol to follow when searching and screening articles (see Appendix). Data is composed of primarily peer-reviewed research articles, with some non-peer review articles (e.g., dissertations). My original search and first round of screening produced 36 articles that met my inclusion criteria; after additional screening, I reference 28 articles for this paper. I drew most articles from the databases ERIC and IBSS. Using Excel, I employed data charting to record each source, and to describe the resources I found based on my research question and PCC outlined in my protocol. I further conducted a narrative summary analysis that I archived in a word document.

Findings
Four important factors emerged from this scoping review as being key in facilitating (or hindering if overlooked) effective detracking policies:

1. Extra supports for students (offered consistently and frequently)
Across most case studies and articles in this review, detracking curricula did lead to more equitable outcomes if accompanied by some sort of extra support for students. These included but are not limited to tutoring sessions before, after, and/or during school (see Alvarez & Mehan, 2006), and subject-specific workshops or “back-up classes” offered multiple times a week for students who need to catch up on skills and concepts they may have missed in class (see Rubin, 2006).

2. Teacher training and support
Detracking needs to focus on ‘mixed ability teaching’. Effective detracked classrooms leverage different types of assessments and ways of teaching (e.g., open-ended assignment, scaffolding assignments, clear feedback, etc.). This said, we need to recognize that it is a lot to ask teachers to build-up their skills and practices to align with mixed-ability teaching. Thus, initiatives need to find ways to continually support them and include their input through this process. Some examples from the literature include, providing trained staff to assist in the classroom, creating opportunities for teachers to learn from each other’s detracking teaching practices monthly, and providing teachers extra time (for which they are properly compensated) to acquire these new skills.

3. Workshops to help expand teachers’ and students’ understanding of ability
Teacher and student attitudes/beliefs about skill development can impact low attainers’ personal educational standards. Biased beliefs about students can affect their performance and behaviour (e.g., stereotype threat). For example, a case study of an unsuccessful detracked classroom found that teachers and administrators at the school labeled struggling students in detracked classrooms in deficit terms: prone to deviance, low-skilled, unmotivated, etc. (Rubin, 2008). This also applies to students. Thus, offering training and workshops for teachers and students to reflect on their attitudes and beliefs about skill development can help shift implicit expectations in the classroom and alter prevailing beliefs about ability.

4. School structure reform/curriculum reform
School structure is a broad term encompassing the organization of curricula, classes, students, administration, and teachers. A case study by Alvarez & Mehan’s (2006) on detracking describes how extending the school year by 18 days to give teachers more time to deliver curriculum, and students more time to meet academic demands helped support detracking intervention. It is a good example of how a school can re-work the conventional time allotted to students to complete curricula. In addition, struggling students may benefit more from explicit instruction of academic skills and the language used in academic settings because for many, this knowledge is not already known. Some examples from the case studies include explicitly teaching time management, and homework completion skills.

Finally, it is important to note that not all schools are going to respond to detracking in the same way, as seen in Rubin’s (2008) case study on detracking across three different schools. Thus, to ensure the sustained success of detracking, there must be continuous monitoring of detracked classes alongside evaluations of individual schools.

One of the conference questions under curriculum and protest, is “in what ways can education be a catalyst for change?” This is important to reflect on because detracking alone can have power to reinforce existing inequalities between students and yet have power to provide more equitable outcomes. This scoping review of studies on detracking implementation is crucial in understanding how to do detracking right. In addition, this review contributes to the clarification of different terminology used interchangeably with detracking, and outlines the different approaches in the way detracking has been implemented across different jurisdictions.

Author

• Ceara Khoramshahi, OISE, University of Toronto