ABSTRACT

The present study reports findings from a multiple case study of 19 racially and socioeconomically mixed ninth-grade students’ and their families’ course-taking experiences as the students transitioned from the eighth to the ninth grade. It documents four distinct processes – asserting entitlement, penetrating privilege, passing through, and opting down – that the families engaged in when navigating course placements. The processes, illustrated in the critical tales of 4 families, reveal the ways in which families’ biographies and their relationships with significant others in the school and community affected their approach to course placement and their ability to secure seats in higher track classes.