Detracking in the Social Studies: A Path to a More Democratic Education?

This article examines the practices of tracking and detracking in the social studies classroom. I argue that the content goals and the pedagogical orientations of social studies classes lend themselves to detracking. First I describe some of the issues regarding tracking and detracking in general. Following that is a discussion of the match between the social studies goals of democracy, inquiry, and civic participation and the goals of detracking. I then argue that the pedagogical practices recommended for teaching social studies are also those utilized in successful detracked classrooms. Finally, I discuss some of the challenges to detracking in the social studies.