| Anne Nordstrom
Boston College
The effect of alternative tracking systems on post-secondary attainment of high school students
FINAL REPORT:
This study used Hierarchical Linear Modeling to examine how the effects of student track placement on post-secondary education, occupational status, income and civic participation varied between high schools, as a function of the organization of tracking practices in high schools. The purpose of this research was to provide a synthesizing perspective in the debate about whether and how to track schools, by identifying tracking practices that were associated with equitable attainment between tracked students and excellence of attainment for all students. Tracking practices were compared by the levels of their "homogeneity" of student populations and "flexibility" of course assignments across subjects and over time. The findings of the study offer cautious support for "detracking" the nation's schools, because every tracking system examined was associated with either decreased overall post-secondary attainment for students, or large differences in attainment between students from high and low tracks. Only one type of tracking system was associated with equity between students from different tracks and increased overall attainment.
The findings of the study clearly challenge the common rationale for the practice of segregating students of similar backgrounds, abilities and aptitudes into curriculum tracks. Yet unqualified support for "detracking" the nation's schools was not offered, because the differentiating effects of track placement remained largely unmediated by heterogeneous and flexible grouping, two core strategies of the detracking movement.
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