How organizational structure and grouping in elementary school contributes to formal tracking of students in mathematics at the onset of middle school

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the process of structured differential learning opportunities significantly affect achievement outputs. This study identified school based processes of classroom organization and grouping and revealed the relationship between process and outcomes. Two middle schools linked to six elementary feeder schools in one suburban school district in Texas were studied. Cohorts of sixth grade students for the school year 1996-1997 were traced back longitudinally to investigate the students' elementary school experience in mathematics ability grouping. The data used in this research was student math placement; Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) scores for three years; demographic information, and qualitative data collected regarding elementary classroom experiences of the students. The project also used interviews with administrators, teachers, other staff and observations of classroom teaching to attempt to understand the grouping practice employed at these schools. The study utilized the methodological techniques of Ordinary Least Squares Regression, Data Envelopment Analysis, Logistic Regression and qualitative techniques to describe the elementary and middle school grouping practices.; The research provided a framework for studying the structural organization of schools and grouping practices. The results indicate that the organizational structure of grouping can produce inconsistent and unfair access to knowledge. Five significant findings are discussed in this paper. First, it was found that Hispanic students and students designated as economically disadvantaged had lower math achievement performance. Secondly, schools tended to place minority students and low SES students in the courses titled Mathematics and Integrated Mathematics, rather than Accelerated Math or Gifted-Talented Mathematics. Third, there were differences found in math achievement scores between classrooms, especially at three of the campuses under study. Also, several of the schools differed in the way they grouped students by classroom and how they structured student grouping, such as Gifted-Talented and Resource students. Finally, the most critical finding of this study was the fact that the student TAAS scores were used as a gate-keeping mechanism to track students into middle school math courses This study has important implications for how test scores are used to place students and improve educational outcomes.