American Educational Research Association > SIG163 > Tracking and Detracking Research


Recent Tracking and Detracking Research

Featuring our own SIG members, Donna Harris, Sean Kelly, Carol Burris, Kevin Welner, and Maika Watanabe!  If you know of, or have written, a recent tracking-related paper that is not listed here, please send it to Emily Hodge so we can provide a comprehensive list.

(Papers listed are from the last six years, beginning with the most recent.)

Kanno, Y., & Kangas, S. (2014). "I'm not going to be, like, for the AP": English Language Learners' limited access to advanced college-preparatory courses in high school. American Educational Research Journal51(5), 848-878.

Domina, T., Penner, A. M., Penner, E. K. & Conley, A. (2014). Algebra for all: California’s eighth-grade Algebra initiative as constrained curricula. Teachers College Record. 116 (8), 1-18. 


Godley, A. (2013). "Equivocal Equity: The Struggles of a Literacy Scholar, White Middle-Class Urban School Parent, and Grassroots Activist. Research in the Teaching of English. 48(2), 250–260.

Conger, D., & Long, M. C. (2013). Gender gaps in college enrollment:  The role of gender sorting across public high schools. Educational Researcher, 42(7), 371–380.


Chmielewski, A.K., Dumont, H., & Trautwein, U. (2013). "Tracking effects depend on tracking type: An international comparison of students’ mathematics self-concept."American Educational Research Journal, 50(5), 925–957.

Kalogrides, D., & Loeb, S. (2013). "Different teacher, different peers: The magnitude of student sorting within schools." Educational Researcher, 42(6), 304–316. 

Nomi, T., & Allensworth, E.M. (2013). "Sorting and supporting: Why double-dose algebra led to higher test scores but more score failures." American Educational Research Journal, 30(4), 756–788.

Kalogrides, D., Loeb, S., & Beteille, T. (2013). Systematic sorting, teacher characteristics, and class assignments. Sociology of Education, 86(2), 103-123.


Gritter, K. (2012). Permeable textual discussion in tracked language arts classrooms. Research in the Teaching of English, 46(3), 232–259.

Harris, D. M. (2012). Varying teacher expectations and standards: Curriculum differentiation in the age of standards-based reform. Education and Urban Society, 44(2), 128–150.

Harris, Donna M. (2011). Curriculum differentiation and comprehensive school reform: Challenges in providing educational opportunity. Educational Policy, 25(5), 844–884.

Kelly, S., & Price, H. (2011). The correlates of tracking policy: Opportunity hoarding, status competition, or a technical-functional explanation? American Educational Research Journal, 48(3), 560–585.

Buttaro, A., Catsambis, S., Mulkey, L., & Steelman, L. C. (2010). An organizational perspective on the origins of instructional segregation: School composition and use of within-class ability grouping in American kindergartens. Teachers College Record, 112(5), 1300–1337.


Burris, C. C., Welner, K. G., & Bezoza, J. W. (2009). Universal access to a quality education: Research and recommendations for the elimination of curricular stratification. Boulder and Tempe:
Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit.

Gamoran, A. (2009). Tracking and inequality: New directions for research and practice. WCER Working Paper No. 2009-6. Madison: Wisconsin Center for Education Research.

Lleras, Christy, & Rangel, C. (2009). Ability grouping practices in elementary school and African American/Hispanic achievement. American Journal of Education, 115(2), 279–304.

Boaler, J., & Staples, M. (2008). Creating mathematical futures through an equitable teaching approach: The case of Railside School. Teachers College Record, 110(3), 608–645.

Burris, C. C., Wiley, E., Welner, K., & Murphy, J. (2008). Accountability, rigor, and detracking: Achievement effects of embracing a challenging curriculum as a universal good for all students. Teachers College Record, 110(3), 571–607.


Lleras, C. (2008). Race, racial concentration, and the dynamics of educational inequality across urban and suburban schools. American Educational Research Journal, 45(4), 886–912.


Mickelson, R. A., & Everett, B. J.(2008). Neotracking in North Carolina: How high school courses of study reproduce race and class-based stratification. Teachers College Record, 110(3), 535–570.

Rubin, B. (2008). Detracking in context: How local constructions of ability complicate equity-geared reform. Teachers College Record, 110(3), 646–699.

Watanabe, M. (2008). Tracking in the era of high-stakes state accountability reform: Case studies of classroom instruction in North Carolina. Teachers College Record, 110(3), 489–534.