The paper explores types of secondary education offered to students of various social backgrounds in Teheran, Iran, and examines processes by which students are guided into educational tracks. The hypothesis is that assignment to an academic versus a vocational program and tracking within these programs plays a major role in the type of occupational and, consequently, socioeconomic level that an individual will be able to achieve. Tracking is a particularly strong influence in less developed nations such as Iran where occupational recruitment and training has been an even more manifest purpose of modern (western) type schools. Two sources of data are used: (1) qualitative data derived largely from Iranian educational literature, interviews with teachers, counselors, and other educators, and observations in schools and homes; and (2) quantitative data compiled from the academic files of 465 students selected at random from public and private high schools in the Teheran region. Findings from analysis of qualitative data indicated that tracking is influenced by perceived inclination and academic ability of the student, parental opinion, achievement and aptitude test results, and grades. Findings from analysis of quantitative data indicated that, in addition to these influences, there was a definite correlation between academic achievement and occupational status of the parents and track in which a student was placed. Although this correlation between socioeconomic status and placement in a high track was not as strong as has been often assumed in existing research, it was found that socioeconomic variables influenced counselor's tracking decisions indirectly and were associated with high scores on subjects (particularly science and math) deemed most crucial for entrance to the most prestigious fields of secondary education. (DB)