In the 1980s, a nationwide reform movement sprang up in opposition to "tracking," the controversial practice of schools grouping students by ability and organizing curriculum by level of difficulty. Officials in two states, Massachusetts and California, adopted policies urging middle schools to reduce or abandon tracking. In this book, Tom Loveless describes how schools reacted to these recommendations and discusses why some schools went along with detracking while others bitterly resisted the reform. Loveless explains that the state policies were adopted without strict mandates, financial incentives, legal threats, or new bureaucratic structures. They were also adopted without convincing evidence that detracking brings lasting benefits to students. But advocates framed tracking reform as a policy supporting greater educational equity. In response, urban schools, low-achieving schools, and schools serving disadvantaged children have reacted sympathetically to the reform. Suburban schools, high-achieving schools, and schools serving wealthier families have been less willing to detrack. Drawing on extensive survey and case study data, Loveless concludes that this reform's fate is in the hands of local decisionmakers. Schools formulate tracking policy based on their own institutional, organizational, political, and technical considerations. All school reform entails risks. One troubling implication of this study is that the risks of detracking are being assumed by schools with some of society's most vulnerable youngsters.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.

**Available to pre-order: The ground-breaking memoir by acclaimed rapper and podcast host, George the Poet** __________ By telling my story, I've laid out my predicament: I'm a Black entertainer on the frontline of the War on Blackness, but it's not always clear who I'm fighting for. Born to Ugandan parents on the St Raphael's Estate in Neasden, north-west London, George has always been an ambitious storyteller. Influenced by his hometown, George started MCing , and eventually found his voice in poetry and with it an avenue for change. In Track Record: Me, Music, and the War on Blackness, George sheds a light on his upbringing and education, while also breathing life into music as a powerful force - one that has ignited social movements and has the lead to dramatic change. In this deeply personal and thought-provoking book, George looks back at his own education, his time at university, and his beginnings as a musician, and the moments that have shaped him. As he reflects on his own evolution as an artist, George weaves a story that goes beyond traditional memoir. He dives deep into the complexities of the economy, colonialism, while also diving deep into forgotten moments in history which form the war on blackness. By understanding how structural inequality, and how marginalised communities have been suffocated by social exclusion, George tells a story that is personal and political, highlighting the many injustices facing Black artists today.. Honest, thought-provoking, and lyrical, Track Record is a ground-breaking memoir by one of the talented and gifted voices today .__________ Praise for George the Poet There's something special about it: the storytelling is unique, so exciting, so kinetic. Even though it's in your ears, you feel like you're walking along with George.' -- Candice Carty-Williams '[George's podcast] blows through the medium's newly established boundaries, offering an experience as innovative as it is undefinable.' -- New Yorker 'A genre-defying piece of audio that pushes the limits of what a podcast can be.' -- New York Times 'There can't be many people out there who don't think George the Poet is a bit of a genius.' -- Guardian