A Lexicon of Learning

What Educators Mean When They Say...

ungraded school

A way of organizing schools that uses individual student progress, rather than age or grade level, to determine when students move from one stage of schooling to another. In an ungraded (also called nongraded) primary school, some students take longer than others to move into 4th grade from a primary-level multi-age classroom (kindergarten through 3rd grade). Students are not classified by grade levels and not evaluated using traditional letter grades (A, B, C, D, F), but their achievement is carefully monitored.

As part of a major school reform in Kentucky, all schools in that state are expected to have a nongraded primary school. The idea is that children ages 5–8 can progress at their own pace without fear of failure, and that they learn best through well-planned activities appropriate to each child's phase of development.

unit of study

A segment of instruction focused on a particular topic. School courses are frequently divided into units lasting from one to six weeks. For example, an American history course might include a four-week unit on the Westward Movement.

untracking

Reducing or eliminating grouping by ability, resulting in classes with students from all ability levels. The result of untracking is mixed-ability grouping, also called heterogeneous rather than homogeneous (or ability) grouping. Strictly speaking, tracking refers to students being lumped into groups for all their classes based on their general ability to learn. Grouping for specific purposes, such as current knowledge of mathematics, is theoretically not tracking, although opponents charge that the practice usually has the same results. Advocates of detracking, also called untracking, point to research indicating that when students are grouped by ability, those in lower tracks are usually taught poorly and don't get exposed to "high-status" knowledge. They see untracking as part of a broader restructuring of schools in which student differences are provided for within each class. Opponents say ability grouping is easier for teachers and better for students—those who are academically able and should not be held back, and those who are slower and should have attention to their special needs.

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This document contains some material that was previously published in The Language of Learning: A Guide to Educational Terms, edited by J. Lynn McBrien and Ronald Brandt, 1997, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.