Yosemite Elementary: Coping with the Impact of Tracking

Yosemite Elementary, located in a rapidly growing section of the county, was dramatically impacted by increasing student enrollments. In 1989 the district had an enrollment of 4,520 students and consisted of seven elementary schools with an eighth school scheduled to open in the winter of 1990. In the 1988-89 school year Yosemite had 750 kindergarten through sixth grade students enrolled in a four track year-round school. The student body consisted of students from a wide range of family backgrounds from upper-middle class to unskilled migrant workers. Of all of the schools in the study, Yosemite had the highest socioeconomic index (2.47) and the lowest per cent of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (2 per cent). It should be noted that the low per cent of AFDC recipients may be due to the fact that many immigrant families (especially undocumented aliens) do not claim AFDC because of fear of jeopardizing their immigration status.