Tracks as Emergent Structures: A Network Analysis of Student Differentiation in a High School

Abstract

While forms of tracking have drawn attention for many years, researchers have more recently turned their attention to the courses students take, the teaching that goes on within them, and the peer friendships formed as factors that affect students' educational experiences and post–high school aspirations. This study examines the phenomenon of student differentiation in high schools through a microanalysis of the course‐taking patterns of a cohort of students during their four years in a high school. Using social network methods, we analyze course‐time events and, after deriving a number of patterns grounded in the data, we examine the manner in which these sociocurricular positions differentiate students on status characteristics, academic achievement, and post–high school plans.