Academic Tracking of English Learners With Disabilities in Middle School

Despite increased attention to the academic progress of English learners (ELs) with disabilities as a result of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, research has yet to investigate the educational opportunities of these students in secondary grades. This qualitative embedded case study examined the curricular access of 10 ELs with disabilities in middle school. Utilizing deficit thinking for its theoretical underpinnings, the analysis illuminated that ELs with disabilities were consistently placed in lower academic tracks through a number of mutually reinforcing institutional and perceptual factors. The findings have exigent implications for expanding opportunities to learn of ELs with disabilities through reform to placement criteria and provision of special education and linguistic support across a range of academic tracks.

Stratification with Honors: A Case Study of the “High” Track within United States Higher Education

At present, U.S. postsecondary sorting is best evidenced by an increasingly stratified system of higher education. However, very little attention is paid to even deeper levels of stratification within colleges and universities where academic tracking and its consequences are manifest. Given this significant lack of attention to deepening levels of stratification within many of the most “accessible” postsecondary institutions in the U.S., the purpose of this article is threefold: (1) to introduce readers to the notion of academic tracking within the postsecondary sector, (2) to situate honors education within the U.S. postsecondary tracking structure, and (3) to demonstrate the depths of stratification within a system that is lauded as the contemporary architect of social mobility. Based upon qualitative data collected during the 2016–2017 academic year at one public 4-year “accessible” university, findings illustrate the persistence, structure, and depths of stratification as an unintended consequence of one university’s efforts to reconcile the competing goals of excellence and equity.

Teacher Decision-Making: Using Hypothetical Vignettes to Examine the Course Recommendation Process

Academic tracking is common in American schools. While the impact of this practice on students is well documented, few studies closely examine the influence of teacher decision-making on students’ academic trajectories. This article discusses a study examining how teachers recommend students for high- and low-track academic classes. Specific attention is paid to data collected through participant analysis of hypothetical vignettes. This unique methodology was specifically designed to illuminate the dynamics shaping participants’ decision-making process. The key finding of this study is that participants experienced high levels of autonomy when making recommendations. This autonomy, however, did not emanate from recognition of their expertise or familiarity with students’ academic capabilities; rather, it resulted from ill-defined expectations, poor communication among teachers, and a lack of clear administrative policies. The analysis of data led to findings that are divided into five distinct but interrelated themes.

Mesdames et Messieurs Les Proviseurs: Principals Address Structural Inequalities in a Diverse High School

This article examines how high school principals in France work to change the negative effects that the country’s academic tracking system brings to students from immigrant and working-class backgrounds. The tracking system tends to relegate these students to lower vocational tracks that do not prepare them well for the labor market and tend to reinforce their social marginalization. The authors—one a sociologist and the other a school principal—describe a comprehensive, diverse lycée in a suburb of Paris where administrators are addressing the multiple impacts of tracking on their students by enabling some to change tracks and providing others the support they need to succeed when facing challenges at school and in their neighborhoods. The description and analysis of daily life at school not only illuminates what is distinctive about the French system but also lays out strategies and practices that make the school environment more egalitarian.