This comment could be made by many high school students throughout the U.S., describing advanced courses reserved for only a select few-those with a high grade point average and high achievement test scores, combined with teacher recommendations. Eighty percent of the nation's high schools continue such screening practices. These rigid entrance requirements screen out too many students from participating in challenging advanced courses. Even as school personnel discuss the need for more inclusionary practices, they often overlook opening access to advanced high school courses. Efforts to detrack advanced classes sometimes meet with protests from parents who fear the high standards of advanced courses will be lowered.
Educators frequently join in with the same concerns.
They see rigid requirements as the only way to maintain the quality of the advanced classes. However, entrance requirements vary from school to school throughout the nation. Students who qualify for an advanced course in one school may not meet the standards in another school. There is also a disproportionate placement of minorities in noncollegiate tracks. Less affluent parents generally accept lower-level placement of their children without questions.