Unpacking Detracking: When Progressive Pedagogy Meets Students’ Social Worlds
Abstract
Despite heated debate over detracking, little research exists on how the reform plays out in the classroom. This article, based on a year-long interpretive study of a detracked ninth-grade program at a diverse urban high school, focuses on the encounter between the “official” practices of the detracked classrooms under study and the “unofficial” social worlds of the students taking part in those practices. The author describes how aspects of the overall school context framed and permeated students’ interactions in their detracked classes, at times leading to a reiteration of the very inequalities that detracking was designed to address.
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Detracking reform efforts have been quite controversial.
“Despite the attempts to improve the academic achievement of all students, detracking reform efforts have been quite controversial (Rubin, 2003).”
From The Relationship of High School Curriculum Tracks to Degree Attainment and Occupational Earnings (2009) · cites this paper as Rubin, 2003
Cites
The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (2017) · Aldine (Routledge reprint) · doi:10.4324/9780203793206 · Cited by 25,789 · see citing works
Authorizing Students’ Perspectives: Toward Trust, Dialogue, and Change in Education
Cook-Sather, A. (2002) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.3102/0013189x031004003 · Cited by 959 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Recent literature has pointed to the need for greater attention by educational researchers to students’ school experiences in general, including their experiences with school reform (Cook-Sather, 2002; Ericson & Ellet, 2002; Oldfather, 1995; Rubin & Silva, 2003; Schultz & Cook-Sather, 2001).”
BackgroundDetracking: The Social Construction of Ability, Cultural Politics, and Resistance to Reform
Oakes, J., Wells, A. S., Jones, M., & Datnow, A. (1997) · Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education · doi:10.1177/016146819709800305 · Cited by 361 · cited 2× · see citing works
“” Qualitative researchers have focused on analyzing the school and community dynamics that emerge as teachers and administrators attempt to implement various detracking measures, rather than focusing on the effect of detracking on student achievement (e.g., Cooper, 1996; Oakes et al., 1997; Wells & Serna, 1996; Yoneza…”
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The Relationship of High School Curriculum Tracks to Degree Attainment and Occupational Earnings
Fletcher ., E. C., & Zirkle, C. (2009) · Career and Technical Education Research · doi:10.5328/cter34.2.81 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
- Authors
- Rubin, B. C.
- Affiliations
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- Corresponding author
- Rubin, Beth C.
- Venue
- American Educational Research Journal
- Published
- 2003-01
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 539-573
- ISSN
- 0002-8312 (ISSN-L)
- 1935-1011
- OpenAlex
- W2086293237
- Cited by
- 80
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 15.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Educational Research Journal (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies
- Keywords
- detracking, progressive education, urban high schools, teaching practice, school context, educational inequality, student diversity
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