Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• LeTendre, Gerald K
• Hofer, Barbara K
• Shimizu, Hidetada

Titel

What is tracking?: Cultural expectations in the United States, Germany, and Japan

Ist Teil von

• American educational research journal, 2003, Vol.40 (1), p.43-89

Ort / Verlag

Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association

Erscheinungsjahr

2003

Quelle

ERIC

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• On the basis of the TIMSS Case Study Project data collected in the [ three countries] in 1994-1995, this article examines the pheneomenon of tracking as part of curricular differentiation and student placement practices in public K-12 school systems. [Five types of curricular differentiation were found: according to school type, course of study, stream, ability grouping and geographical location]. The authors document clear national differences in differentiation and placement measures and summarize the history of conflict over those measures. Analysis of respondent [i.e. teachers, parents, students] perceptions and beliefs about differentiation and placement (what people think "tracking" is) shows that nation-specific values and attitudes (i.e., "cultures" determine which form of curricular differentiation are legitimated and which contested. Dominant cultural beliefs about what students are capable of and the role that schools should play in educating them create different points of conflict over tracking. (DIPF/ Orig.).