Interviews with 27 counselors in 8 high schools demonstrate that counselors do not like to give students bad news about their college prospects and do not believe that they have the authority to do so. Counselors' unwillingness to act as gatekeepers may prevent students from getting the information they need. (SLD)

Presents case studies and multivariate analyses that show that prefectures in Japan with the most egalitarian detracking reforms had the most flight from public to private schools and the emergence of the most within-school grouping. Discusses implications for the design of tracking policies. (Author/SLD)