Originally Posted by ultramarina
The research is very easy to find--Google "research on tracking." Here's one that came up right off:

Research Overwhelmingly Counsels an End to Tracking:
http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2013/05/options-tracking

What I find of note in the research is that tracking appears to have negative effects not because tailoring instruction is bad, per se, but because when you track, other bad things happen (good teachers prefer higher tracks, parents with higher-track kids are better at demanding good education).

I should say, there has been a recent backlash to the anti-tracking school of thought.

There's a difference between genuine research and agenda-driven "research". These people are extremists. Tracking, providing classes that fit, should be no more controversial than providing clothes that fit.

The goal of anti-tracking extremists is to destroy education for more able students. To a large extent they have succeeded. Public education is hugely focused on less able students, and the more able students are left disenfranchised from the public school system. Millions of children have been driven out of public education due to these hostilities.