“Jumping Tracks”: How Language‐Minority Students Negotiate Evaluations of Ability

This article illustrates a process by which two language‐minority students were able to change their initial track placement in mainstream classes, and to position themselves in ability groups that were higher in status and, arguably, in educational value. Employing the notion that academic ability is a construct that is situationally negotiated among students, their teachers, and counselors, it explores the means by which these students were able to “jump tracks.”