Sociodemographic Diversity, Correlated Achievement, and De Facto Tracking

  • Diversity of student social backgrounds is a basis for de facto tracking.
  • More SES diversity is related to more de facto tracking.
  • SES diversity is associated with increased de facto tracking in math and English.
  • Analyzed alone, the incidence of racial diversity positively affects de facto tracking.
  • The presence of racial diversity is also positively associated with de facto tracking.
  • Controlling for prior achievement does not change the relationship. In private schools there was no association between SES and racial/ethnic diversity and de facto tracking.