"Beyond Tracking" responds to the a sobering assessment of American high schools by delineating and promoting an innovative and well-defined notion of multiple pathways. The book's authors clearly distinguish their use of the term "multiple pathways" from any updated version of the tracking system that marked so many American high schools during the past century. Instead, Oakes and Saunders propose a system of multiple pathways that will "provide both the academic and real-world foundations that students need for advanced learning, training, and preparation for responsible civic participation." All multiple pathways schools will have four main components: a college-preparatory core; a professional/technical core; field-based learning and realistic workplace simulations; and additional support services to meet the particular needs of students and communities. "In this conception of multiple pathways, students and their families choose from among a variety of options, all of which lead students to the same destination: preparation to succeed in both college and career, not one or the other." In its detailed and innovative examination of multiple pathways, "Beyond Tracking" makes a crucial contribution to current discussions about high school reform and the educational challenges of the 21st century. This book begins with "Multiple Pathways: Promising to Prepare All High School Students for College, Career, and Civic Participation," an introduction by Jeannie Oakes and Marisa Saunders. It contains three parts. Part I, Multiple Pathways and Student Success: Possibilities and Challenges, contains: (1) Blending "Hand Work" and "Brain Work": Can Multiple Pathways Deepen Learning? (Mike Rose); (2) Evidence and Challenges: Will Multiple Pathways Improve Students' Outcomes? (David Stern and Roman Stearns); (3) Meeting the Individual and Collective Aims of Schooling: Can Multiple Pathways as Small Schools Strike a Balance? (Karen Hunter Quartz and Elliot Washor); and (4) Immigrants and English Learners: Can Multiple Pathways Smooth Their Paths? (Patricia Gandara). Part II, Multiple Pathways and Sietal Benefit: Possibilities and Challenges, contains: (5) United or Divided: Can Multiple Pathways Bring Together Multiple Communities? (Manuel Pastor); (6) Can Multiple Pathways Link Vulnerable Groups to Changing Labor Markets? (Michael A. Stoll); (7) Can Multiple Pathways Offset Inequalities in the Urban Spatial Structure? (Paul Ong and Veronica Terriquez); and (8) Multiple Pathways and the Future of Democracy (John Rogers, Joseph Kahne, and Ellen Middaugh). Part III, Adopting and Implementing Multiple Pathways: Possibilities and Challenges, contains: (9) Making It Real: Implementing Multiple Pathways (David Rattray); (10) Challenging the Deep Structure of High School: Weak and Strong Versions of Multiple Pathways (W. Norton Grubb); (11) Between High School and College: Can Multiple Pathways Bridge the Divide? (Andrea Venezia); (12) Constructing Equal Pathways in an Effectively Maintained Inequality Society (Samuel R. Lucas); and (13) Beyond Tracking? Multiple Pathways of Possibility and Challenge (Jeannie Oakes and Marisa Saunders). An index is included.