The Relationship between School Tracking and Race from a Social Psychological Perspective.

For decades social scientists have been interested in how education and schooling contribute to the reproduction of social order. Many scholars suggest schools are the 'great American equalizer' while others challenge this view by viewing schools as a "panacea for social inequality" (Kershaw 1992; Frehill 2000). School tracking and ability grouping are two instruments that arguably enhance this social reproduction of inequality. Much research exists suggesting that race and social economic class are key factors in tracking and ability grouping with a disproportionate number of minority and low socioeconomic status students being placed in the lower ability groups and on non-college bound tracks.This paper will review the existing body of literature on the relationship between school tracking and race, specifically focusing on the social psychological dimensions of this relationship, namely the antecedents and consequences. The issue of school tracking has been investigated on two levels, the macro-level, institutional and sociological, and the micro-level, individual and social psychological. This paper will argue that historically, more attention has been given to the macro-level of analysis of tracking, often overshadowing the key role that micro-level processes play in the relationship between school tracking and race from a social-psychological perspective. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]