Report Roundup

Academic Tracking

March 8, 2005

An international study suggests that rigid tracking of students into different classes by their academic ability provides little or no payoff for improving a nation’s overall academic achievement.

The report—published online last month by the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass.— is based on cross-national testing data for students in 18 to 26 economically advanced nations, some of which track students early in their school careers and some of which do not.

By Debra Viadero

Vol. 24, Issue 26, Page 10

Published in Print: March 9, 2005, as Academic Tracking