Stratification with Honors: A Case Study of the “High” Track within United States Higher Education

Abstract

At present, U.S. postsecondary sorting is best evidenced by an increasingly stratified system of higher education. However, very little attention is paid to even deeper levels of stratification within colleges and universities where academic tracking and its consequences are manifest. Given this significant lack of attention to deepening levels of stratification within many of the most “accessible” postsecondary institutions in the U.S., the purpose of this article is threefold: (1) to introduce readers to the notion of academic tracking within the postsecondary sector, (2) to situate honors education within the U.S. postsecondary tracking structure, and (3) to demonstrate the depths of stratification within a system that is lauded as the contemporary architect of social mobility. Based upon qualitative data collected during the 2016–2017 academic year at one public 4-year “accessible” university, findings illustrate the persistence, structure, and depths of stratification as an unintended consequence of one university’s efforts to reconcile the competing goals of excellence and equity.

Keywords

• higher education
• stratification
• inequality
• tracking
• honors education