SOCIAL POSITIONS IN SCHOOLING

In this article, the idea is developed that a track is a type of socia l position in students' relations with particular teachers and course work during their years of schooling. Using data from High School and Beyond, the authors derived eight curricular positions from an analysi s of students' profiles of course work in high school. These curricula r positions are associated with students' status characteristics (soci oeconomic status, gender, and race) and attitudes (college plans and l ocus of control) and affect students' senior-year academic achievement s net of their sophomore-year achievements, status characteristics, an d sector (private versus public school attendance). The positive effec ts of private schools are explained by the curricular positions of the ir students, and there is a public school advantage with respect to sc ience achievements for students in equivalent curricular positions.