Beyond Tracking and Detracking: The Dimensions of Organizational Differentiation in Schools

Abstract

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Civil Society Goes to School: Parent-Teacher Associations and the Equality of Educational Opportunity

“…Our future analyses will take advantage of linked educational administrative data to develop rich measures of classroom assignment patterns across schools and over time (Domina et al 2017) and explore how PTAs influence these aspects of students’ educational experiences. We also plan to match these organizational-level data to the Stanford Education Data Archive to investigate the role of PTAs in producing academic achievement gaps nationwide.…”

Using Administrative Data for Social Science and Policy

“…In providing dense coverage of populations, these data allow researchers to examine whether policies had spillover effects (either positive or negative) on those around the targeted populations, and to examine questions around how context moderates the effectiveness of treatment. Heterogeneity in treatment effectiveness is important not only for contributing to scientific understanding regarding the mechanisms through which interventions work, but also because it has important implications for generalizability and scalability (Domina et al 2016).…”

Measuring High School Curricular Intensity over Three Decades

“…However, data limitations often require modeling CBIs individually by subject rather than capturing the full curriculum (e.g., Lucas and Berends 2002). This approach is inconsistent with the reality that track scope (i.e., the correlation between students' course taking across subjects), although less comprehensive and more variable following detracking, remains substantial (Domina et al 2016;Frank et al 2008;Lucas 1999;Lucas and Berends 2002).…”

“…on increasing completion of higher-level math and lab-based science courses (Domina et al 2016;Dougherty, Mellor, and Jian 2006;Gamoran and Hannigan 2000;Iatarola, Conger, and Long 2011;Klugman 2013). This policy emphasis on STEM will likely continue: Demand for jobs in STEM fields is high and projected to increase in coming years, and research shows that high school math and science coursework predicts future participation in STEM fields (Bottia et al 2015;Bozick and Owings 2008;Carnevale, Smith, and Strohl 2013;Lee 2012;Long et al 2009).…”

“…Academic course taking—and the stratification of course taking—is a core area of research in the sociology of education (Carroll and Muller 2018). Sørensen’s (1970) foundational work identified multiple dimensions of schools’ tracking systems, including scope (the extent to which course placement in one subject correlated with course placement in other subjects), selectivity/inclusiveness (the proportion of students allocated seats in high-level courses), and mobility (how easily students move between higher- or lower-level courses in a subject; see also Domina et al 2016). School policies and practices along these dimensions shape the set of courses students complete during high school.…”