Poster #69 - Academic Tracking: Differential Placement and Effects on Academic Performance

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Academic tracking is used to sort students by grades, test scores, and teacher recommendations. By tracking, schools may inadvertently create barriers to equal educational opportunity depending on students’ ethnicity and gender, since these factors are used to track students (Quinn & Cooc, 2015). Investigating how students are differentially tracked by ethnicity and gender and whether tracking has consequences for them is important. Academic success may be related to tracking because educational practices vary by tracking status, with lower-tracked students disproportionately exposed to less qualified and experienced teachers (Eccles & Roeser, 1999). Thus, lower tracked students may be negatively affected by a poor educational environment. The goals of this study were to examine whether: (1) middle school students are differentially tracked in language arts and math by ethnicity and gender (2) track placement is related to grades, academic ability beliefs, and school motivation/engagement and (3) ethnicity and gender moderate the effects of tracking on academic outcomes.
In fall and spring, 278 6th graders (54% female; Latinx [39%], White [18%], and multi-ethnic [42.9%]) self-reported ethnicity, gender, academic motivation/engagement, and academic ability beliefs in reading and math. Students’ grades and academic track in language arts and math courses, defined as average (grade level), advanced (one year ahead), or honors (two years ahead), were reported by teachers at the end of the year. Fall academic measures were controlled in predicting spring academic outcomes.
Analyses revealed that White students were more likely to be placed in the honors track, especially compared to multi-ethnic students (Table 1; x2 (4, N = 256) = 14.33 and 14.30, ps < 0.01, for language arts and math tracks, respectively). Girls were marginally more likely to be tracked into the honors language arts track whereas boys were more likely to be placed in the advanced language arts track, x2 (2, N = 256) = 5.55, p = 0.06, but there were no gender differences in math tracking. These effects were subsumed by an interaction between ethnicity and gender; White girls were more likely than multi-ethnic girls to be tracked in the honors tracks, (x2 (4, Ns = 111 and 109) = 15.22 and 10.70, ps < .001 for math and language arts tracks, respectively). Ethnicity differences in tracking were not evident for boys. Evidence of tracking effects on academic outcomes was mixed. Academic tracking was related to students’ end of the year grades (Fs (2, 233 and 222) = 5.03 and 19.38, ps < 0.01 and 0.001, for math and language arts, respectively), and to writing ability belief (F (2, 184) = 4.26, p = 0.02) for language arts, with honors students producing higher grades and having higher ability belief than average and advanced track students. Academic tracking was unrelated to math ability belief and motivation/engagement. There was no moderation by gender or ethnicity.
These findings offer insight into how students are separated structurally from those of differing ethnicity and gender, suggesting tracking may provide contrasting educational experiences. Thus, academic tracking may have implications for students’ academic and social development.

Authors

• Kenton Woods, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Laura D. Hanish, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dawn DeLay, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Carol Lynn Martin, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author