Emergent Theory and the Effects of Structural Reforms on de Facto Tracking in Two Comphrehensive High Schools

"This study accepted the theoretical framework of Friedkin and Thomas (1997), who proposed that tracking systems in large comprehensive high schools are emergent. The study replicates a network analysis methodology used by Heck, Price, and Thomas (2004) to understand the way tracking emerged in one high school in Hawaii. However, this study expanded the use of the method to analyze the effects of a structural reform on tracking in two comprehensive high schools by comparing one graduating class before a reform effort to one that graduated after the reform was enacted"--Abstract.