About 25 years ago, our local public school district segregated children by ability beginning in the 4th grade. The "fast-track" kids were sent to one grade school, where the coursework was demanding and accelerated. (French, for instance, was mandatory for nine years in the AP program.) All the other kids attended five other "regular" elementary schools.
Before the segregation-by-ability occurred, a few of the high school graduates would go on to state universities. That was about it. After the segregation-by-ability occurred, graduates of the 4-12 program were being accepted at schools such as Harvard, Yale, Smith, West Point.
Again, this is a poor, inner-city school district, in which only 25% of the high school graduates go on to college.
Now there's a move afoot to jettison much of the advanced-placement program. The reason? By segregating children by ability at age 9, the "regular" classrooms are being shortchanged by lack of class leaders. |
