Beyond Tracking.

On the surface, educational tracking may seem like a useful tool for allowing students to work at their own pace, and to avoid discouraging competition, but abuses of the tracking idea have arisen through biased placement practices that have denied equal access to education for minority students. The articles in this issue explore a number of concerns related to tracking: (1) "Tracking Denies Equal Access" (Percy Bates); (2) "Tracking Perpetuates the Class System in the United States of America" (Norma Barquet); (3) "Excellence and Equity: What Research Says about Tracking" (Norma Barquet); (4) "Race, Ability Grouping, and the Law in American Education" (Chuck Vergon); (5) "The Educational Status of National Origin Students: On an Invisible Track" (Martha A. Adler); (6) "Tracking and Gender" (Eleanor Linn); (7) "The Checklist: Assessing the Tracking Practices in Your School" (Norma Barquet and Eleanor Linn); (8) "Special Education: A Changing System" (Judith L. Greenbaum); (9) "Cooperative Learning: An Alternative to Tracking" (Tasha Lebow); (10) "Untracking High School Mathematics" (Eleanor Linn); (11) "Tracks and Resources: Separate and Unequal" (Ted Wilson); and (12) "Recommended Resources for Untracking Schools" (annotated list of 40 resources) (Eleanor Linn and Ted Wilson). References follow the articles. (SLD)