Oakes, Jeannie

Jeannie Oakes is an educational researcher whose work focuses on schooling inequalities. She was a professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), until November 2008, when she became the Director of Education and Scholarship at the Ford Foundation. She has authored 17 books and over 100 scholarly articles, book chapters, and research reports. Oakes is best known for her 1985 book Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality, which provides a sharp critique of curricular tracking. Oakes's book challenges the efficacy and fairness of “tracking,” the grouping of students for instruction on the basis of academic ability, which remains a widespread practice in U.S. schools.