The Learning Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 11500 words

The Learning Environment - Essay Example As I developed my relationship with students and began to learn more about their educational experiences, a rather bleak picture began to emerge about the nature of class placement and standardized test assessment. Although the institutional divisive system of academic segregation-tracking-should no longer be a reality in LAUSD schools, students are, to some degree, still segregated into classes based on their skill level. At my school, such "tracking" systems are still fully functional. Ninth grade students are placed in their English and math classes based on their state standardized score results, regardless of the grades they received in previous classes. As a result, some of the "lower-level" students placed in sheltered or remedial classes were actually the A-students in middle school who failed to take the state standardized exams seriously. These students are next programmed into classes designed for low-skilled students. Unlike designated "high-level" students, "low-level" s tudents are often not provided with the same resources, nor are they placed in classes with a quality standard of performance. Low-level students have virtually no access to higher-level1 college-preparatory materials, experienced teachers, and most importantly, rigorous academic training that could lead to greater motivation for success. Thus, by reducing and limiting access to these resources, the groundwork for an informal tracking system is created. My own personal experiences led me to understand that many of the endemic problems of the urban school system arose from the lack of access to higher expectations and a college