Abstract
This exploratory investigation employs the National Education Longitudinal Surveybreak(NELS:88) to examine equity in tracking from a new, less-studied angle, with the view that tracking may not be all good or all bad, but that its effects are variable. The present study considers how these variable effects might, in part, be produced through a mechanism of social comparison conceptualized by Marsh et al. as the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE). It compares similar students, except that some are in schools that use tracking and some are in schools that do not use tracking. Unlike previous studies of between-track effects, it asks whether tracking works uniformly for males and females within the same track placement in a particular subject area. Analyses yielded significant differences in students' attitudes toward mathematics, educational aspirations, self-esteem, locus of control, and engagement in school. These systematic effects suggest the mechanisms of the BFLPE. Despite the ‘reflected glory’ of being in a high ability track, when males, in contrast to females, are grouped with peers of similar high ability in a subject area that defines their competence, they seem to lose their competitive edge. Low ability males are positively affected through the mechanism of comparing with their peers because the competition to do well is relatively less keen than in high tracks.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler, Patricia A., Kless, Steven J., & Adler, Peter (1992). Socialization in gender roles: Popularity among elementary school boys and girls. Sociology of Education, 65(3), 169-188.
Ahlgren, Andrew (1983). Sex differences in the correlates of cooperative and competitive school attitudes. Developmental Psychology, 19, 881-888.
Ahlgren, Andrew & Johnson, Dana (1979). Sex differences in cooperative and competitive attitudes from the second through the twelfth grades. Developmental Psychology, 15, 45-49.
Aldrich, John H. & Nelson, Forrest D. (1984). Linear probability, logit and probit modes.Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
American Association of University Women (AAUW) (1992). How schools shortchange girls. Washington, DC: Author.
Anderson, Eric M. & Maehr, Martin L. (1994). Motivation and schooling in the middle grades. Review of Educational Research, 64, 187-210.
Argys, Laura M., Rees, Daniel I., & Brewer, Dominic (1996). Detracking America's schools: Equity at zero cost? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 15(4), 623-645.
Bornholt, Laurel J., Goodnow, J., & Cooney, G. (1994). Influence of gender stereotyping on adolescents' perceptions of their own achievement. Sex Roles, 3, 310-314.
Braddock II, Jomills H. & MacIver, Douglas J. (1991) Student grouping in the middle grades: Analyses from the NELS:88 and principals' supplement. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
Butler, Ruth (1989). Interest in the task and interest in peers' work in competitive and noncompetitive conditions: A developmental study. Child Development, 60, 562-570.
Catsambis, Sophia (1994). The path to math: Gender and racial-ethnic differences in mathematics participation from middle school to high school. Sociology of Education, 67, 199-215.
Catsambis, Sophia, Mulkey, Lynn M., & Crain, Robert L. (1999). To track or not to track? The social effects of gender and middle school tracking. Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization, 12, 135-163.
Cohen, Elizabeth G. & Lotan, Rachel A. (Eds.). 1997. Working for equity in heterogeneous classrooms: Sociological theory in practice. New York: Teachers College Press.
Connell, James R. & Wellborn, Jane (1991). Competence, autonomy, and relatedness: A motivational analysis of self-system processes. In Gunnar R. & Stroufe (Eds.), Minnesota symposia on child psychology, 23. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 43-77.
Dreeben, Robert & Barr, Rebecca (1988). Classroom composition and the design of instruction. Sociology of Education, 61, 129-142.
Eccles, Jacquelynne, Wigfield, Allan, Harold, Rena D., & Blumenfeld, Phyllis (1993). Age and gender differences in children's self-and task perceptions during elementary school. Child Development, 64, 830-847.
Eder, Donna & Felmlee, D. (1984). The development of attention norms in ability groups. In Peterson P., Wilkinson L. & Hallinan M. (Eds.), The social context of instruction: Group organization and group processes. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, pp. 189-208.
Fuligni, Andrew J., Eccles, Jacquelynne, & Barber, Brian (1995). The long-term effects of seventh grade ability grouping in mathematics. Journal of Early Adolescence, 15, 58-89.
Gamoran, Adam (1992). The variable effects of high school tracking. American Sociological Review, 57, 812-828.
Gamoran, Adam & Berends, Mark (1987). The effects of stratification in secondary schools: Synthesis of survey and ethnographic research. Review of Educational Research, 57, 415-435.
Hallinan, Maureen (1994). Tracking: From theory to practice. Sociology of Education, 67, 79-83.
Hoffer, Thomas B. (1992). Middle school ability grouping and student achievement in science and mathematics. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 14, 205-227.
Ingels, Steven J., Abraham, Sameer Y., Karr, Rosemary, Spencer, Bruce D., & Frankel, Martin R. (1989). National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988: Data file user's manual. Washington, DC: OERI, U.S. Department of Education.
Kubitschek, Warren N. & Hallinan, Maureen T. (1996). Race, gender and track inequity in track assignments. Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization, 11, 121-146.
Kulik, James A. (1992). An analysis of the research on ability grouping: Historical and contemporary perspectives. Storrs: University of Connecticut, National Research Center on Gifted and Talented Students.
Loveless, Thomas (1998). The tracking and ability grouping debate. Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.
Lucas, Samuel Roundfield (1999). Tracking inequality: Stratification and mobility in American high schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
McGuire, William James (1984). Search for self: Going beyond self-esteem and the reactive self. In Zuker R.A. & Rabin A.I. (Eds.), Personality and the prediction of behavior. New York: Academic Press, pp. 72-120.
Markus, Hazel & Wurf, Elissa (1987). The dynamic self-concept: A social psychological perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 38, 299-337.
Marsh, Herbert W. (1984). Self-concept, social comparison, and ability grouping: A reply to Kulik and Kulik. American Educational Research Journal, 21, 799-806.
Marsh, Herbert W., Barnes, Jennifer, Cairns, Len, & Tidman, Marjorie (1984). Self-description questionnaire: Age and sex effects in the structure and level of self-concept for preadolescent children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 940-956.
Marsh, Herbert W., Chessor, D., Craven, R., & Roche, L. (1995). The effects of gifted and talented programs on academic self-concept: The big fish strikes again. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 285-319.
Marsh, Herbert W. & Yeung, Alexander S. (1998). Longitudinal structural equation models of academic self-concept and achievement: Gender differences in the development of math and English constructs. American Educational Research Journal, 35, 705-738.
Oakes, Jeannie (1985). Keeping track: How schools structure inequality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Oakes, Jeannie (1990). Opportunities, achievement, and choice: Women and minority students in science and mathematics. Review of Research in Education, 16, 153-222.
Oakes, Jeannie (1994). More than misapplied technology: A normative and political response to Hallinan on tracking. Sociology of Education, 67, 84-88.
Oakes, Jeannie, Gamoran, Adam, & Page, Reba N. (1992). Curriculum differentiation: Opportunities, outcomes, and meanings. In Jackson P. W. (Ed.), Handbook of research on curriculum. New York: Macmillan, pp. 570-608.
Ornstein, Peggy (1994). Schoolgirls: Young women, self-esteem, and the confidence gap. New York: Doubleday.
Pallas, Aaron M., Entwisle, Doris R., Alexander, Karl L., & Stulka, Francis M. (1994). Ability-group effects: Instructional, social, or institutional? Sociology of Education, 67, 27-46.
Paris, Scott G. & Turner, Jonathan (1994). Situated motivation. In P. Pintrich, D. Brown, & C. Weinstein (Eds.), Student motivation, cognition, and learning: Essays in honor of Wilbert J. McKechie. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 213-237.
Rosenbaum, James E. (1980). Social implication of educational grouping. Review of Research in Education, 7, 361-401.
Sadker, Myra, Sadker, David, & Klein, S. (1991). The issue of gender in elementary and secondary education. Review of Research in Education, 17, 269-334.
Schwalbe, Michael L. & Staples, Clifford L. (1991). Gender differences in sources of self-esteem. Social Psychology Quarterly, 54, 158-168.
Slavin, Robert E. (1987). Ability grouping and achievement in elementary schools: A best-evidence synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 57, 293-336.
Slavin, Robert E. (1990a). Ability grouping in the middle grades: Achievement effects and alternatives. The Elementary School Journal, 93, 536-552.
Slavin, Robert E. (1990b). Achievement effects of ability grouping in secondary schools: A best-evidence synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 60, 471-499.
Steele, Claude M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. The American Psychologist, 52, 613-617.
Steinkamp, Marjorie W. & Maehr, Martin L. (1984). Gender differences in motivational orientations toward achievement in school science: A quantitative synthesis. American Educational Research Journal, 21, 39-59.
Useem, Elizabeth L. (1992). Getting on the fast track in mathematics: School organizational influence on math track assignment. American Journal of Education, 100, 325-353.
Vanfossen, Beth E., Jones, James D., & Spade, Joan Z. (1987). Curriculum tracking and status maintenance. Sociology of Education, 60, 104-122.
Viadero, Debra (1998). On the wrong track. Education Week, October 14, 27-31.
Wheelock, Anne (1992). Crossing the tracks: How ‘untracking’ can save America's schools. New York: The New Press (Norton & Company).
Wigfield, Allan, Eccles, Jacquelynne, & Rodriguez, Daniel (1998). The development of children's motivation in school contexts. Review of Research in Education, 23, 73-117.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Catsambis, S., Mulkey, L. & Crain, R. For better or for worse? a nationwide study of the social psychological effects of gender and ability grouping in mathematics. Social Psychology of Education 5, 83–115 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012675523595
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012675523595