The majority of American public school students are placed into classes based on their achievement levels as translated by standardized measures and career interests, sorted into courses based on classifications such as fast, average, or slow. The practice of such sorting is referred to as tracking. Different curricular paths, or academic tracks, wield the power to direct the learning opportunities and future prospects available to students. Historically, advanced academic tracks have been reserved for White students, while Black and Latino students have represented the majority of the student population in lower tracks. In essence, tracking has served as a method for resegregating public schools.

Situated within scholarly research on tracking, within-school racial segregation, and student career aspirations, this qualitative study examines how three Black students in the mainstream program at a magnet high school in the Southeastern U.S. discussed their career aspirations. To examine how the participants articulated their career aspirations, this dissertation follows a case study methodology, using qualitative interviews and focus groups as the primary means of data collection. The collected data include field notes, face-to-face interview data from the three student participants, and the transcript of the two focus group meetings. Cultivating an approach that allowed me to explore the lived experiences of students within the mainstream program, a case study methodology appropriately aided in examining how students perceived their experiences within global educational policies such as tracking on a local level.

The results indicate that while each of the participants aspired to attend college upon graduating from high school, disruption in their lives, their isolation from the social and cultural capital needed in order to successfully apply for colleges, and their academic status within their school would serve as hindrances in gaining access to the institutions that would help them accomplish their career aspirations. The data reveal a need to challenge educational policy such as tracking that has historically targeted and marginalized students of color and continues to provide unnecessary obstacles as they seek to reach their ambitions.