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October 27, 2013 at 4:00 AM

Roundtable: Can tracking ever work?

Posted by Caitlin Moran

[do action=”guest-columns” piece1headline=”Joplin Plan shows promise for grouping students” piece1description=”Reading classes that separate students by ability, not grade level, allow for tailored instruction without stigmatizing students, writes Robert Slavin of the Center for Research and Reform in Education.” piece1commentsurl=”http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/reader_feedback/public/display.php?thread=920173″ piece1commentstext=”See comments (3)” piece2headline=” Let’s challenge all students instead of tracking by ability” piece2description=”Rationing our most demanding curricula is not the way to shrink our country’s achievement gap, argues National Education Policy Center Director Kevin Welner. ” piece2commentsurl=”http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/reader_feedback/public/display.php?thread=920208″ piece2commentstext=”See comments (10)” piece3headline=”Is blended learning the solution?” piece3description=”Drawing on her daughter’s own experiences with tracking in Seattle Public Schools, Alison Krupnick of ParentMap writes about how a combination of in-person and online instruction could enable students to rotate more fluidly through different groups.” piece3commentsurl=”http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/reader_feedback/public/display.php?thread=920210″ piece3commentstext=”See comments (0)”/]

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Comments | More in Guest opinion, Roundtable | Topics: ability grouping, blended learning, teaching methods

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About the authors

John Higgins is one of Education Lab's reporters. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2012 to 2013.

Katherine Long has been a reporter for The Seattle Times since 1990, focusing for the past three years on higher ed, with stories that have ranged from the complexities of prepaid tuition programs to nontraditional ways to earn a degree.

Claudia Rowe joined The Seattle Times’ reporting staff in 2013. She has written about education for The New York Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, among other publications.

Leah Todd is an education reporter at The Times. She previously covered education for the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming.

Mike Siegel has been a news photographer at the Seattle Times since 1987. His photography was used in a series titled "Methadone and the Politics of Pain," which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for investigative reporting.

Linda Shaw is The Times’ education editor. Previously, she covered public education as a reporter at The Seattle Times for more than two decades. Her coverage has won numerous national and local awards and honors.

Caitlin Moran is community engagement editor for Education Lab. She came to The Times from Patch, where she spent three years managing hyperlocal news websites on the Eastside.

Read extended bios.

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