Grouping students based on their aptitude test scores is referred to as what?

Grouping students based on their aptitude test scores is referred to as tracking. This practice involves organizing students into different educational paths or programs based on their perceived ability levels or academic performance. Tracking is often instituted with the goal of providing tailored instruction that meets the varying needs and learning paces of students. For example, students who score higher on aptitude tests may be placed in advanced or honors classes, while those with lower scores might be placed in remedial or less advanced classes.

The rationale behind tracking is that it can allow for more focused teaching strategies, as teachers can tailor their curriculum and instructional methods to better suit the groups of students they are working with. However, it's worth noting that tracking can also lead to debates regarding equity and access in education, as students may be placed in tracks that limit their future opportunities.

Other terms like streaming, classifying, and categorizing might also loosely relate to sorting students, but they are not as specifically tied to the implications of academic pathways influenced by aptitude test scores as tracking is.