Dilisa V.

Townsend
Mrs. J. Hill
English Comp. I
29 November 2004

To Track Or Not To Track, Why Is There A question?

“Mom, I don’t understand this”! As a mother of two male children with two

different learning disabilities, I hear these words more than I would like. I learned about

tracking when my children’s teachers asked if it were okay with me to request my

children in their classrooms. I had no reason to question why they asked until my

children stared to run into problems with their learning. One their teachers could not

understand how two little boys from the same home were beginning to fall behind. Of

course, they looked at if there was anything new or unusual going on in my home. There

was not. They tested my oldest child, but he tested well. They tested my younger son,

and that’s where we found a problem. This paper will tell of the things we had to go

through in order to get the help my children needed. I will show the advantages my

family has received by the “tracking’ system used in public schools.

When they reached third grade something happened. The problem my children

faced was neither one of them was taking in information like they had in the past. Their

teachers knew I was very involved with my children and helped as much as they could

with extra schoolwork and study tips. We knew something was very wrong because

eventually they fell so far behind; an intervention had to be made by their school at my

request. My older son, who went through this boggling change first, tested well but was

still having problems. We eventually tried a medical intervention. We found he was

very ill and need emergency medical intervention for his loss of educational progress.
 My other son, who did not test well, was diagnosed with Attention Deficit/

Hyper-Activity Disorder. I allowed him to be placed on medication at this time because I

thought it was the best decision. I was wrong. He did well on the medicine, but his

whole personality changed. I was faced with making the decision of continuing the

medicine or letting my son fall further and further behind in school. In the end, he took

the decision out of my hands. He came to me one day and asked to be taken off the

medicine. I honored his request because I understood why he wanted off the medicine he

was taking. He and I spoke with his wonderful teachers. They came up with a lesson

plan specifically for him. They put him into a class for children who learn at different

paces. He did great in that class and began to love school again. When his teachers

explained to me how studies had shown that African-American males fell behind around

the third grade, I was very surprised. I have found information that suggests African–

American males begin to fall behind in structured school settings around this time of their

educational lives.

The statistics of African-American males falling behind in the third and fourth

grades as rose since 1971. This means an elementary age African-American male can do

well in their studies, but it is not guaranteed they will keep up with the same level of

advancement through the rest of their school careers. In my children’s case, they fell

behind but were caught before they could slip through the cracks. Some children are not

so lucky.

I am for “tracking” in schools because w while in elementary school my children

advanced at an acceptable pace. In my opinion, “tracking” is for the benefit of the

student. The educational problems my children face show how educational intervention
can help a child. Some people will label these children “slow learners” which in turn

creates a stigma of unintelligence. I think it is the other way around. I think children

who have the initiative to accept they learn at a different pace then their fellow class

mates but continue with their learning are very intelligent and deserve accolades not

derogatory remarks.