190812-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
Academic tracking has long been a subject of debate due to its potential impact on educational equity, with students who are tracked highly receiving a higher quality education in comparison to students tracked lowly. These disparities in education quality may

Academic tracking has long been a subject of debate due to its potential impact on educational equity, with students who are tracked highly receiving a higher quality education in comparison to students tracked lowly. These disparities in education quality may be affecting students’ outcomes, as it has been demonstrated that the short-term academic outcomes of students, such as their grades, tend to be affected by their academic track positioning. This dissertation builds upon these previous findings by utilizing a subsample of 20,584 students from the High School Longitudinal Study (2009) to examine the relation between academic track positioning and post-secondary education attendance, program length, college major, and expected future job. Additionally, the relation between academic tracking and each of these outcomes was also assessed using mediation, with potential mediators including education aspiration, expectations, and academic self-efficacy. Findings suggest that academic track positioning in math and science are influential in students’ post-secondary and career outcomes, with students who are positioned highly in either subject having greater post-secondary attendance, program length, higher representation in STEM college majors, and expectations for future jobs in STEM fields in comparison to students tracked lowly. Additionally, education aspirations and expectations mediated the relations between math academic track positioning and each of the outcomes, although the effects were small in size. Educators should consider exploring avenues for improving education quality in low academic tracks.
Reuse Permissions


  • Download restricted.

    Details

    Title
    • Academic Tracking: Long-term Effects on College and Career Outcomes
    Contributors
    Date Created
    2023
    Resource Type
  • Text
  • Collections this item is in
    Note
    • Partial requirement for: Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2023
    • Field of study: Family and Human Development

    Machine-readable links