1932
0
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Annual Review of Sociology
  4. Volume 46, 2020
  5. Article

Annual Review of Sociology

Volume 46, 2020

Race/Ethnicity over Fifty Years of Structural Differentiation in K–12 Schooling: Period-Specific and Life-Course Perspectives

Abstract

In the United States, equally performing students of different racial/ethnic groups may have different prospects for enrollment in rigorous curricular positions. Over time, the processes and operation of curricular systems have changed, and those changes may matter for the existence of racial/ethnic differences in access. We first outline dimensions that distinguish forms of in-school structural differentiation. We then use those dimensions to describe in-school structural differentiation at different points in time in the United States. Next, the time-period-specific evidence on racial/ethnic inequality is outlined, thus embedding findings in historical time. Finally, we array findings on racial/ethnic inequality into life-course trajectories for studied cohorts, revealing that different cohorts may have documented differences in their experience with respect to race and curricular placement.

Keyword(s): ability-grouping, education, life-course studies, racial/ethnic inequality, tracking
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-soc-073018-022441
2020-07-30
2024-04-23
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/soc/46/1/annurev-soc-073018-022441.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-soc-073018-022441&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Alexander KL, Cook M, McDill EL 1978. Curriculum tracking and educational stratification: some further evidence. Am. Sociol. Rev. 43:47–66
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Archbald D, Glutting J, Qian X 2009. Getting into honors or not: an analysis of the relative influence of grades, test scores, and race on track placement in a comprehensive high school. Am. Second. Educ. 37:65–81
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Argys LM, Rees DI, Brewer DJ 1996. Detracking America's schools: equity at zero cost. J. Policy Anal. Manag. 15:623–45
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Balow IH. 1962. Does homogeneous grouping give homogeneous groups. Elem. Sch. J. 63:28–32
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Barr R, Dreeben R. 1983. How Schools Work Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
  6. Barthelmess HM, Boyer PA. 1932. An evaluation of ability grouping. J. Educ. Res. 26:284–94
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Blau PM, Duncan OD. 1967. The American Occupational Structure New York: Free
  8. Bonar HS. 1929. Ability grouping in the first grade. Elem. Sch. J. 29:703–6
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Borko H, Cone R, Russo NA, Shavelson RJ 1979. Teachers' decision-making. Research on Teaching: Concepts, Findings, and Implications PL Peterson, HJ Walberg 136–60 Berkeley, CA: McCutchan
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Bourdieu P, Passeron J-C. 1977. Reproduction in Education, Society, and Culture London: Sage, 2nd ed..
  11. Bowles S, Gintis H. 1976. Schooling in Capitalist America New York: Basic
  12. Braddock JH II 1990. Tracking the middle grades: national patterns of grouping for instruction. Phi Delta Kappan 71:445–49
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Breidenstine AG. 1936. The educational achievement of pupils in differentiated and undifferentiated groups. J. Exp. Educ. 5:91–135
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 1954.
  15. C-SPAN 2007. Democratic Presidential Candidates’ Debate June 3, 2007. https://www.c-span.org/video/?198443-1/democratic-presidential-candidates-debate
  16. Carey N, Farris E, Carpenter J 1994. E.D. TAB: Curricular Differentiation in Public High Schools. Rockville, MD: Westat
  17. Catsambis S, Mulkey LM, Buttaro A Jr., Steelman LC, Koch PR 2012. Examining gender differences in ability group placement at the onset of schooling: the role of skills, behaviors, and teacher evaluations. J. Educ. Res 105:8–20
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Cicourel AV, Kitsuse JI. 1963. The Educational Decision Makers: An Advanced Study in Sociology Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill
  19. Collins R. 1971. Functional and conflict theories of educational stratification. Am. Sociol. Rev. 36:1002–19
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Condron DJ. 2007. Stratification and educational sorting: explaining ascriptive inequalities in early childhood reading group placement. Soc. Probl. 54:139–60
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Crosnoe R, Muller C. 2014. Family socioeconomic status, peers, and the path to college. Soc. Probl. 61:602–24
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Delany B. 1991. Allocation, choice, and stratification within high schools: how the sorting machine copes. Am. J. Educ. 99:181–207
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Domina T, Saldana J. 2012. Does raising the bar level the playing field? Mathematics curricular intensification and inequality in American high schools, 1982–2004. Am. Educ. Res. J. 49:685–708
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Donovan S, Cross CT. 2002. Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
  25. England P, Herbert MS, Kilbourne BS, Reid LL, Megdal LM 1994. The gendered valuation of occupations and skills: earnings in 1980 census occupations. Soc. Forces 73:65–100
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Epstein JL, MacIver DJ. 1990. Education in the middle grades: overview of national practices and trends Rep. 45 Off. Educ. Res. Improv. Baltimore, MD:
  27. Falsey B, Heyns B. 1984. The college channel: private and public schools reconsidered. Sociol. Educ. 57:111–22
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Finney RM. 1928. A Sociological Philosophy of Education New York: Macmillan
  29. Gamoran A. 1986. Instructional and institutional effects of ability grouping. Sociol. Educ. 59:185–98
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Gamoran A. 1989. Rank, performance, and mobility in elementary school grouping. Sociol. Q. 30:109–23
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Gamoran A. 1992a. Access to excellence: assignment to honors English classes in the transition from middle to high school. Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. 14:185–204
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Gamoran A. 1992b. The variable effects of high school tracking. Am. Sociol. Rev. 57:812–28
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Gamoran A, Mare RD. 1989. Secondary school tracking and educational equality: compensation, reinforcement, or neutrality. Am. J. Sociol. 94:1146–83
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Garet MS, DeLany B. 1988. Students, courses, and stratification. Sociol. Educ. 61:61–77
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Glenn ND. 1976. Cohort analysts' futile quest: statistical attempts to separate age, period and cohort effects. Am. Sociol. Rev. 41:900–4
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Glenn ND. 2003. Distinguishing age, period, and cohort effects. Handbook of the Life Course JT Mortimer, MJ Shanahan 465–76 New York: Springer
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Goodman L. 1979. Simple models for the analysis of association in cross-classifications having ordered categories. J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 74:537–52
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Goyette KA. 2008. College for some to college for all: social background, occupational expectations, and educational expectations over time. Soc. Sci. Res. 37:461–84
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Hallinan MT. 1994a. Tracking: from theory to practice. Sociol. Educ. 67:79–84
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Hallinan MT. 1994b. Further thoughts on tracking. Sociol. Educ. 67:89–91
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Hallinan MT. 1996. Track mobility in secondary school. Soc. Forces 74:983–1002
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Hanushek E, Wößmann L. 2003. Does educational tracking affect performance and inequality? Differences-in-differences evidence across countries. Econ. J. 116:C63–76
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Hauser RM. 1978. A structural model of the mobility table. Soc. Forces 56:919–53
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Hauser RM, Anderson DK. 1991. Post-high school plans and aspirations of black and white high school seniors: 1976–86. Sociol. Educ. 64:263–77
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Hauser RM, Koffel JN, Travis HP, Dickinson PJ 1975. Temporal change in occupational mobility: evidence for men in the United States. Am. Sociol. Rev. 40:279–97
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Hawkins ML. 1966. Mobility of students in reading groups. Read. Teach. 20:136–40
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Hayes FW III 1990. Race, urban politics, and educational policy-making in Washington, D.C.: a community's struggle for quality education. Urban Educ 25:237–57
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Hobson v. Hansen, 265 F. Supp. 902 1967.
  49. Hoffer TB. 1992. Middle school ability grouping and student achievement in science and mathematics. Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. 14:205–27
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Hollingshead ADB. 1949. Elmtown's Youth: The Impact of Social Classes on Adolescents New York: Wiley
  51. Hope K. 1984. Intergenerational and career mobility in Britain: an integrated analysis. Soc. Sci. Res. 13:20–37
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Jencks C, Phillips M. 1998. The Black-White Test Score Gap Washington, DC: Brookings Inst.
  53. Jones JD, Morrison M. 2009. The de-standardization of high-school tracking hypothesis: a case study. Adv. Life Course Res. 14:101–18
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Jones JD, Vanfossen BE, Ensminger ME 1995. Individual and organizational predictors of high school track placement. Sociol. Educ. 68:287–300
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Katz MS. 1976. A History of Compulsory Education Laws Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educ. Found.
  56. Kelley F. 1903. An effective child-labor law: a program for the current decade. Ann. Am. Acad. Political Soc. Sci. 21:438–45
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Kelly S. 2007. The contours of tracking in North Carolina. High Sch. J. 90:415–31
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Kelly S. 2009. The black-white gap in mathematics course taking. Sociol. Educ. 82:47–69
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Kilgore SB. 1991. The organizational context of tracking in schools. Am. Sociol. Rev. 56:189–203
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Kliebard HM. 1995. The Struggle for the American Curriculum: 1893–1958 New York: Routledge, 2nd ed..
  61. Langenkamp AG. 2010. Academic vulnerability and resilience during the transition to high school: the role of social relationships and district context. Sociol. Educ. 83:1–19
     [Google Scholar]
  62. Lareau A. 1989. Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education New York: Falmer
  63. Levine J, Nottingham J, Paige B, Lewis P 2000. Transitioning O*NET to the Standard Occupational Classification Raleigh, NC: Natl. Cent. O* NET Dev.
  64. Lieberson S. 1985. Making it Count: The Improvement of Social Research and Theory Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press
  65. Link BG, Phelan J. 1995. Social conditions as fundamental causes of disease. J. Health Social Behav. 1995:Extra Issue80–94
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Lucas SR. 1999. Tracking Inequality: Stratification and Mobility in American High Schools New York: Teach. Coll. Press
  67. Lucas SR. 2014. An inconvenient dataset: bias and inappropriate inference with the multilevel model. Qual. Quantity 48:1619–49
     [Google Scholar]
  68. Lucas SR, Berends M. 2002. Sociodemographic diversity, correlated achievement, and de facto tracking. Sociol. Educ. 75:328–48
     [Google Scholar]
  69. Lucas SR, Berends M. 2007. Race and track location in U.S. public schools. Res. Soc. Stratif. Mobil. 25:169–87
     [Google Scholar]
  70. Lucas SR, Gamoran A. 2002. Tracking and the achievement gap. Bridging the Achievement Gap JE Chubb, T Loveless 171–98 Washington, DC: Brookings Inst.
     [Google Scholar]
  71. Lucas SR, Good AD. 2001. Race, class, and tournament track mobility. Sociol. Educ. 74:139–56
     [Google Scholar]
  72. Marcotte DE, Bailey T, Borkoski C, Kienzl GS 2005. The returns of a community college education: evidence from the national education longitudinal survey. Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. 27:157–75
     [Google Scholar]
  73. McFarland J, Hussar B, Zhang J, Wang X, Wang K et al. 2019. The Condition of Education 2019 Washington, DC: Natl. Cent. Educ. Stat.
  74. Meyer JW. 1977. The effects of education as an institution. Am. J. Sociol. 83:55–77
     [Google Scholar]
  75. Mickelson RA. 2001. Subverting Swann: first- and second-generation segregation in Charlotte-Mecklenberg schools. Am. Educ. Res. J. 38:215–52
     [Google Scholar]
  76. Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717 1974.
  77. Moller S, Stearns E. 2012. Tracking success: high school curricula and labor market outcomes by race and gender. Urban Educ 47:1025–54
     [Google Scholar]
  78. Moore DR, Davenport S. 1988. The new improved sorting machine Rep., Natl. Cent. Eff. Second. Sch Madison, WI:
  79. Moses ER. 1941. Indices of inequalities in a dual system of education. J. Negro Educ. 10:239–44
     [Google Scholar]
  80. NCES (Natl. Cent. Educ. Stat.) 1999. National Education Longitudinal Study, 1988: First Follow-Up (1990) (ICPSR 9859) Washington, DC: Natl. Cent. Educ. Stat.
  81. NCES (Natl. Cent. Educ. Stat.) 2012. Digest of Education Statistics Washington, DC: Natl. Cent. Educ. Stat.
  82. Norton JK. 1926. The Ability of the States to Support Education Washington, DC: Natl. Educ. Assoc.
  83. Oakes J. 1981. Tracking policies and practices: school by school summaries, a study of schooling in the United States Tech. Rep., Grad. Sch. Educ., Univ. Calif Los Angeles:
  84. Oakes J. 1994a. More than misapplied technology: a normative and political response to Hallinan on tracking. Sociol. Educ. 67:84–89
     [Google Scholar]
  85. Oakes J. 1994b. One more thought. Sociol. Educ. 67:91
     [Google Scholar]
  86. Off. Press Secr 2016. Remarks of President Barack Obama—State of the Union Address as delivered News Release, Off. Press Secretary, White House Washington, DC:
  87. Pallas AM, Entwisle DR, Alexander KL, Stluka MF 1994. Ability-group effects: instructional, social, or institutional. Sociol. Educ. 67:27–46
     [Google Scholar]
  88. Phillips MR. 1932. Financial support. J. Negro Educ. 1:108–36
     [Google Scholar]
  89. Raftery AE. 1986. Choosing models for cross-classifications. Am. Sociol. Rev. 51:145–46
     [Google Scholar]
  90. Ragin CC. 1987. The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Statistical Strategies Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press
  91. Reynolds J, Stewart M, MacDonald R, Sischo L 2006. Have adolescents become too ambitious? High school seniors’ educational and occupational plans, 1976 to 2000. Soc. Probl. 53:186–206
     [Google Scholar]
  92. Riehl C, Pallas AM, Natriello G 1999. Rites and wrongs: institutional explanations for the student course-scheduling process in urban high schools. Am. J. Educ. 107:116–54
     [Google Scholar]
  93. Riley MW. 1973. Aging and cohort succession: interpretations and misinterpretations. Public Opin. Q. 37:35–49
     [Google Scholar]
  94. Rosenbaum JE. 1976. Making Inequality: The Hidden Curriculum of High School Tracking New York: Wiley
  95. Rosenbaum JE. 1980. Track misperceptions and frustrated college plans: an analysis of the effects of tracks and track perceptions in the National Longitudinal Survey. Sociol. Educ. 53:74–88
     [Google Scholar]
  96. Rosenbaum JE. 2001. Beyond College for All: Career Paths for the Forgotten Half New York: Russell: Sage
  97. Rosenbaum JE, Miller SR, Krei MS 1996. Gatekeeping in an era of more open gates: high school counselors' views of their influence on students' college plans. Am. J. Educ. 104:257–79
     [Google Scholar]
  98. Schafer WE, Olexa C. 1971. Tracking and Opportunity: The Locking-Out Process and Beyond Scranton, PA: Chandler
  99. Schneider B, Stevenson D. 1999. The Ambitious Generation: America's Teenagers, Motivated but Directionless New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press
  100. Schütz G, Ursprung HW, Wößmann L 2008. Education policy and equality of opportunity. KYKLOS 61:279–308
     [Google Scholar]
  101. Silva E, White T, Toch T 2015. The Carnegie Unit: A Century-Old Standard in a Changing Education Landscape New York: Carnegie Found. Adv. Teach.
  102. Sørensen AB. 1970. Organizational differentiation of students and educational opportunity. Sociol. Educ. 43:355–76
     [Google Scholar]
  103. Spring J. 1972. Education and the Rise of the Corporate State Boston: Beacon
  104. Strayer G. 1949. The Report of a Survey of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia Washington, DC: US Gov. Print. Off.
  105. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 1971.
  106. Tach LM, Farkas G. 2006. Learning-related behaviors, cognitive skills, and ability grouping when schooling begins. Soc. Sci. Res. 35:1048–79
     [Google Scholar]
  107. Trow M. 1961. The second transformation of American secondary education. Int. J. Comp. Sociol. 2:144–66
     [Google Scholar]
  108. Turner RH. 1960. Sponsored and contest mobility and the school system. Am. Sociol. Rev. 25:855–67
     [Google Scholar]
  109. Useem E. 1992. Middle schools and math groups: parents’ involvement in children's placement. Sociol. Educ. 65:263–79
     [Google Scholar]
  110. Warren JR, Jenkins KN, Kulick RB 2006. High school exit examinations and state-level completion and GED rates, 1975 through 2002. Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. 28:131–52
     [Google Scholar]
  111. Wells AS, Serna I. 1996. The politics of culture: understanding local political resistance to detracking in racially mixed schools. Harv. Educ. Rev. 66:93–119
     [Google Scholar]
  112. Wheelock A. 1992. Crossing the Tracks: How “Untracking” Can Save America's Schools New York: W.W. Norton
  113. Wilson BJ, Schmits DW. 1978. What's new in ability grouping. Phi Delta Kappan 59:535–36
     [Google Scholar]
  114. Wilson BL, Rossman GB. 1993. Mandating Academic Excellence: High School Responses to State Curriculum Reform New York: Teach. Coll. Press
  115. Wines W. 1994. Title VII interpretation and enforcement in the Reagan years (1980–89): the winding road to the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Marquette Law Rev 77:645–718
     [Google Scholar]
  116. Wong RS-K. 1995. Extensions in the use of log-multiplicative scaled association models in multiway contingency tables. Sociol. Methods Res. 23:507–38
     [Google Scholar]
  117. Wrigley J. 1982. Class Politics and Public Schools: Chicago, 1900–1950 New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press
  118. Xie Y. 1992. The log-multiplicative layer effect model for comparing mobility tables. Am. Sociol. Rev. 57:380–95
     [Google Scholar]
  119. Yerkes RM. 1921. Psychological Examining in the United States Army Washington, DC: US Gov. Print. Off.
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-soc-073018-022441
Loading
Race/Ethnicity over Fifty Years of Structural Differentiation in K–12 Schooling: Period-Specific and Life-Course Perspectives
Annual Review of Sociology 46, 355 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073018-022441
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-soc-073018-022441
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-soc-073018-022441
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Supplemental Material

Supplementary Data

  • Article Type: Review Article

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error