The other side of the tracks – How academic streaming impacts student relationships

Description:

While the inequitable academic impacts of curricular tracking are well understood, less attention has been paid to its social impacts.  This presentation reports on a study that utilizes social identity theory to explore how tracking impacts the nature of relationships between students in different tracks.  Findings include that tracking contributed to widening social divides between students, working to replicate and reinforce social stratification, with negative consequences falling most heavily on those assigned to lower tracks.  Students formed friendships primarily with same-track peers, while negative stereotyping and bullying across tracks was common.  Tracking also increased racial divisions, which led to geographic segregation and schools becoming a racially divided space.

Speakers:

Sachin Maharaj is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Policy and Program Evaluation at the University of Ottawa.  Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, he was a teacher at the Toronto District School Board and a lecturer at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, where he completed his Ph.D. and was a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholar.  Dr. Maharaj's research focuses on school boards, school choice, teacher unions, and policy implementation.  He is also a regular contributor to the Toronto Star, where he has published over 60 articles, and has appeared several times on media outlets like CBC and TVO.

Since 2009, Sana Zareey has been committed to the field of education.  Leaving his previous career as an electrical engineer he enrolled in the teacher education program at the Ontario Institute for Studies (OISE) in Education at the University of Toronto.  There he completed his Bachelor of Education, and his Master of Arts in Education in the department of Sociology and Equity Studies. His master’s thesis topic was on streaming/tracking and brought to the fore voices of youth in the community where he lived.  The data from that work is what has led this presentation and an upcoming publication. Since graduating in 2013, Sana worked as a teacher and vice-principal in secondary education, and has now returned to OISE to pursue his PhD.

Link: https://uottawa-ca.zoom.us/j/95496470965?pwd=aDJINzFneVE2a3NTTzB3elo4bUFQQT09