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Detracking: The Social Construction of Ability, Cultural Politics, and Resistance to Reform by Jeannie Oakes, Amy Stuart Wells, Makeba Jones & Amanda Datnow — 1997Structural changes necessary in detracking efforts challenge not only the technical
dimensions of schooling, but also the normative and political dimensions. We argue
that detracking reform confronts fundamental issues of power, control, and legitimacy
that are played out in ideological struggles over the meaning of knowledge,
intelligence, ability, and merit. This article presents results from a three-year longitudinal
case study of ten racially and socioeconomically mixed secondary schools participating
in detracking reform. We connect prevailing norms about race and social
class that inform educators? parents? and students?conceptions of intelligence,
ability, and giftedness with the local political context of detracking. By examining
these ideological aspects of detracking we make a case for reexamining common presumptions
that resistance to policies providing greater opportunities to low-income
and minority children is driven by rational estimates of the learning costs and benefits
associated with such reforms.
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- Jeannie Oakes
University of California, Los Angeles
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- Amy Wells
University of California, Los Angeles
E-mail Author
- Makeba Jones
University of California, Los Angeles
- Amanda Datnow
Johns Hopkins University
E-mail Author
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