Educational decision-making in general and at the stage when students are divided into different tracks (between and/or within the schools) is one of the major foci of educational research. Between school tracking when students change schools according the chosen track occur at different educational levels, e.g. in Germany after the primary school, in Italy and Russia after the secondary level. Three sets of agents play significant role in the choice of further education: teachers, parents and children. In case of 11 years old students the decision is made primarily by teachers (and in case of Rhineland-Palatinate by parents and teachers together); with 14-15 years student the decision is made primarily by parents and students themselves. Regardless the type of a tracking system the main research questions are the same: which factors influence the decision, how the choices are perceived and framed and what are the outcomes of these decisions?

Our analysis follows – to a certain extent – the Model of Frame Selection (Esser, 2003, 2006; Kroneberg, 2006, 2007; Kroneberg, Stocke, Yaish, 2006) by defining frames as "mental models of situations, which equip an individual with pre-fabricated answers to critical questions [in] a particular situation” (Kroneberg, 2006) - in the case, the situation of choosing educational paths. This model was successfully applied to the analysis of German educational system by V.Stocké using original survey data (Stocke, 2007).

The proposed paper takes a complementary approach to the above-cited publications. We elicit frames used by decision-makers (parents and students) from qualitative interviews with them. We make an attempt to distinguish several frames contextually and suggest the contextual factors which influence the selection of particular frames by individuals. We would claim that FSM theoretical approach allows educational researchers to find out what frames educational choice (and thus limits step-by-step decision-making).

Our Laboratory of Sociology of Education and Science conducted in 2008-2010 a survey of mobility and stratification in local educational system in a rural region adjacent to the Saint-Petersburg’s metropolitan area. The project was mainly focused on educational choices and trajectories of students after the 9^th grade, at which point Russian students have to choose a track. The goal was to analyze the relationship between resources, aspirations, expectations, socio-economic positions and other factors and trajectories of the students. Parents and students have free choice of a track, and teachers and administration do not have formal authority to assign students to the tacks. In other words, local socio-economical situation creates demands for particular tracks among rural population. Such perspective is important for educational policy and planning in metropolitan area and adjacent regions.

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