This paper examines the influence of the curriculum placement process on students' perception of internal control. Employing cross-sectional data for a national sample of adolescents, the relative importance of the following variables on perceptions of internal control are evaluated: actual curriculum placement, the degree of student choice in where they get placed, ability, socioeconomic status, and race. The data show that more white than black adolescents reports a high degree of internality. However, the relationship between locus of control and race is reported to be greatly diminished when the curriculum placement process is controlled for. It is suggested that adolescent racial differences on locus of control may be due largely to race-based experiential differences rather than to minority status itself. (Author/RLV)