Allocation, Choice, and Stratification within High Schools: How the Sorting Machine Copes

This article analyzes the scheduling process in high schools as a study of stratification and of schools as organizations. It examines how students, courses, teachers, and time are allocated and the ambiguities associated with that process. While much previous literature reifies curricular grouping, student plans, and resource allocation, this study finds the scheduling process buffering the schools from environmental uncertainties. Individual student paths through the curriculum are seen as artifacts of managing the school's scheduling process rather than as the result of intentional choice by the school or student. As a result, in the management of curricular choice in many high schools, the processing of clients takes precedence over the delivery of some educational service.