Race effects on students' track mobility in high school

Race effects on track mobility are hypothesized on the basis of racial differences in initial track placement, learning opportunities, course preferences, and academic guidance. Race differences in patterns of track mobility are observed in a large, longitudinal survey that follows students from ninth through twelfth grade. Initial track placements and changes in track over the school year and between school years are described. Multivariate analyses associate race with the likelihood of changing track and the direction of the track change. Black students are less likely than white students to move to Honors and advanced tracks in Mathematics but more likely than whites to move from the Basic to the Regular track in English. Black students are considerably more likely than whites to drop out of the tracking system in English and Mathematics, except for black students in Advanced English and in Honors and Advanced Mathematics. The results of this study point to tracking as an organizational characteristic of schools that can provide students with unequal access to the curriculum and, therefore, to learning opportunities by race. Close monitoring of track changes is recommended to insure that tracking promotes the academic achievement of all students. This research was funded by Grant #R117E10139-01 from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement and by National Science Foundation Grant No. RED-9311800. The author is grateful to these agencies for their support as well as to Warren Kubitschek for his contribution to the data analysis and to Ann Power for research assistance.