Ilana Seidel Horn Lessons Learned From Detracked Mathematics Departments Students’ mastery of and achievement in high school mathematics is considered pivotal to their opportunities for and within postsecondary edu- cation. For this reason, many educators have at- tempted to implement equity-geared reforms, in- cluding detracking, that affect the organization and instruction of high school mathematics. This article describes how schools with successful detracked mathematics programs share 4 charac- teristics: (a) a view of subject that focuses on con- nections and meaning, (b) a curriculum focused on important mathematical ideas, (c) a balance of coordination and professional discretion for teaching decisions, and (d) clear distinctions be- tween doing math and doing school in the struc- tures of the classroom and the evaluation of stu- dents’ thinking. This analysis can support other schools’ attempts to detrack mathematics. M ATHEMATICS IS AN ACADEMIC DOMAIN of- ten perceived as beyond the reach of edu- cational reforms. It is not uncommon for whole- school reforms, such as graduation portfolios or project-based learning, to take hold in every sub- ject except mathematics (Horn, 2002; Little, 1999). This is due to the conventional wisdom that mathematics is unique among the disciplines in its lack of adaptability to more open-ended styles of teaching and learning. How can we teach mathe- matics for understanding, for example, if the sub- ject is made up of discrete facts that need to be memorized? How can we support students’ collab- orative learning when successful learning is viewed as individuals mastering procedures? Due to these widespread perceptions, even ad- vocates of mixed-ability grouping and detracking often shy away from truly detracking high school mathematics departments—that is, reconstruct- ing the curriculum so that students are grouped heterogeneously. Learning about what works is made more complicated by the multiple versions of detracking that exist (Rubin, 2003). Gutiérrez (1996) pointed out that detracking reforms are difficult to evaluate on a large scale due to their 72 THEORY INTO PRACTICE, 45(1), 72–81 Ilana Seidel Horn is an Assistant Professor of Mathe- matics Education at the University of Washington. Correspondence should be addressed to Ilana Seidel Horn, University of Washington, Curriculum & Instruc- tion, 115 Miller Hall, Box 353600, Seattle WA 98195. E-mail: lanihorn@u.washington.edu