A Slice of History: Examining the Detracking and Retracking of Students Attending an Urban Minority High School Over Time

• In Event: Access, Detracking, and Tracking: Policy, Practice, and Stakeholder Perspectives

Abstract

After losing a 10-year fight to avoid desegregation in the 1970s, White students were bused to Johnston High School (JHS), a decaying school serving students of color. From 1980 to 1988, Johnston became a school where “Everybody Is Somebody.” Between 1988 and 2002, Johnston resegregated and eventually became the first reconstituted high school in Texas due to accountability reform mandates and tracking practices reinforced within the school district. This paper highlights how state/federal policies and district leadership decisions that initially de-tracked students and then re-tracked students both positioned JHS for success and repositioned JHS for its downfall. The authors challenge us to consider how we might end such a practice today.

Author

• Barbara L. Pazey, University of North Texas