The distinctive focus of interpretive research on the meaning of curriculum is described, and the reconceptualization of the practice that interpretive studies provide is illustrated. The illustration includes the use of an interpretive lens to assess curriculum differentiation in lower-track high school classes. The interpretivist's interest in meaning provokes inquiry in three general domains: (1) the perspectives of school participants; (2) the processes in which meaning is constructed; and (3) the contexts in which meaning is shaped. From the interpretivist's perspective, curriculum differentiation is a sociocultural, political process in which teachers' and students' definitions of their roles and of knowledge interact in particular institutional settings. In the process, track placement, roles, interactional prerogatives, status, and knowledge are differentially allocated within a school and between schools. Application of the interpretive approach to a 2,000-student midwestern United States comprehensive high school provides insights into students' and teachers' perspective of the lower-track curriculum and patterns of resolving classroom conflicts. Results suggest that differentiation in public high schools occurs, in degree and process, much like differentiation in American society as a whole. The study also demonstrates that as important as the question of whether students and teachers come to school with different views of important knowledge is the question of why and how the differences are made important within the school. Thirteen notes and 87 references are appended. (TJH)