I meant for this to be a comment on another post, but I can’t seem to manage that at this point, so I’m hoping this ends up somewhere that makes sense.
I know that I’m coming late to the topic, but I would like to through in that I don’t agree with streaming based on ability. I have experienced the challenge of having students in my class at a wide range of abilities and realize that it would easier for the teacher to have a homogeneous group of students. I don’t think that it’s better for the students.
Part of the problem is the assumption that students perform better when they are with students at the same level. I think that students who are struggling can be helped and inspired by those who are stronger. Those who are performing well can also be challenged to explain their understanding to those who are having trouble. Another problem is the assumption that students can be grouped into those who do well at math and those who don’t. Some students are great at geometry and can’t do algebra. Math is a complex discipline. But the most important idea is that students are always changing in their abilities and we can’t assume that a poor mark one year means that the student won’t be capable of doing university math when the time comes.
It terrifies me that we ask students to make a decision about their university careers
If a student chooses the academic stream because they don’t want to close doors for university, they may end up struggling through the material because the teacher is expecting a different level of mathematical thinking. I think this often contributes to students’ fear of math. If there was no streaming, it would be the teacher’s challenge to make sure that students were challenged at appropriate levels and support was available those who might otherwise be regarded as a lost cause because they’re “in the wrong level”.
What I do agree with is choices in courses based on interest. For example, at the Grade 12 level, students can do Advanced Functions, Calculus and Vectors or Data Management. These represent different types of math and so it makes sense to allow students this option. Which one they take narrows their choices for university, but it narrows it into whatever field they are interested in, not whether they can get into university at all.
I feel like much of the discussion surrounding streaming is centred on what teachers do and do not believe students can achieve. To an extent I agree that teachers should always believe students can learn and that negative reports one year do not necessarily predict poor performances the next year. However I think the larger issues involve board and school-level changes before teacher changes. For example, if we were to consider implementing a de-streamed system then there have to be smaller class sizes, resource teachers inevery class, and more money to purchase and make use of resources. I think having a de-streamed class of 30 students would be impossible for a teacher to handle. Even streamed classes have such a wide range of students of varying levels of interest and ability...it would be difficult, for me at least, to teach 30 students in a de-streamed class and help each of them in exactly the way they need to be helped.
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