"What Does Race Have To Do With Getting on the 'Right Track?' Through Their Own Voices: An Analysis of How Tracking Stratifies Students by Race" (2015)

Undergraduate: Virginia Riel

Faculty Advisor: Ted Mouw
Department: Sociology

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Rooted in an extensive history of racial segregation between schools, this research addresses the subsequent stratification within schools that often arises once schools are integrated, through an analysis of tracking and its implications for students in rural high schools. Using a sample of three racially diverse public high schools, this interview and fieldwork based study assesses how tracking stratifies students by race. This study assesses, from students¿¿¿ own view, their placement into tracks as well as their perceptions of their school experiences, their teachers' expectations, and their schools¿¿¿ college-going culture, while also taking into account their plans for the future. Through in-depth interviews with thirty-seven students, with a specific focus on how students are stratified by race, this study acquires a more holistic perspective of why students are placed in their tracks, whether they change tracks, how they perceive their tracks, and how their placements and perceptions impact their plans for their futures. This study¿¿¿s in-depth analysis of the process of tracking, from placement to perception of treatment to plans after high school provides increased insight about how race plays a role in educational opportunity within schools.