Social inequality in attitudes and behavior : the implications of the Flemish tracking system for equity

The aim of the current study is to assess the relationship between individual- and school-level SES and non-cognitive student outcomes. We focus specifically on students’ sense of academic futility, school misconduct, and engagement in part-time work as non-cognitive outcomes that have important implications for students educational opportunities. The study also investigates the role tracking plays in mediating the outcomes we examine. Tracking is a form of ability grouping, which refers to a situation in which students are taught an entirely different curriculum depending on their ability group. Research showed that, net of ability, students are selected into tracks based on social characteristics (Gamoran, 2010), with lower SES children having a higher chance of ending up in the less esteemed tracks. Given that students in lower tracks are characterized by lower educational opportunities and an anti-school culture, apparent in deviant behavior and low study attitudes (Gamoran, 2010; Hargreaves 1967; Lacey 1970; Rosenbaum 1976; Van Houtte, 2006a), tracking might mediate social differences in the attitudinal and behavioral outcomes of the current study.