Advanced Academic Participation

Abstract

Participation in advanced academic programs such as Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) has been associated with higher student achievement and college readiness. In addition, AP and IB are widely recommended and implemented as services for gifted and talented students. Students who participate in these programs tend to be more successful in college admissions, scholarships, college grade point averages, and college completion rates. Black and Hispanic students do not generally participate in AP and IB programs at the same rate as sameschool White students, leaving White students to benefit disproportionately in the transition from high school to college. This study analyzed ethnicity gaps in AP and IB programs longitudinally from 2001 to 2011 in 117 suburban high schools. Results indicated that AP/IB participation increased for all students over time (d = 0.74). There were ethnicity gaps in 2001 and again in 2011 between Black and Hispanic student AP/IB participation and White student AP/IB participation, and the gaps neither increased nor decreased substantially over time. This study also examined school factors associated with AP/IB ethnicity gaps and found that overall schoolwide college readiness and the proportion of minority faculty at each school were moderately associated with changes in the magnitude of the gaps. Teacher experience and changing student demographics in schools showed little to no association with changes in the magnitude of the ethnicity gaps.

College Acceleration for All? Mapping Racial Gaps in Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment Participation

“…Indeed, a large volume of research has documented that within-school tracking and other forms of homogeneous ability grouping, such as gifted programs within a school, can exacerbate educational inequity by creating a situation where students are segregated along lines of race and socioeconomic background (Gamoran, 2010;Lucas & Berends, 2002;Oakes et al, 1992). Research consistently indicates that racial minority students and socioeconomically disadvantaged students are less likely to participate in gifted education programs and are more likely to be assigned to lower academic tracks (Kettler & Hurst, 2017;Taliaferro & DeCuir-Gunby, 2008). Students placed into lower tracks are rarely afforded an equal opportunity to catch up due to the curricular differences and tend to show increased achievement gaps over time compared with peers with similar initial achievement but were assigned to a higher track (Gamoran & Mare, 1989;Hoffer, 1992;Schofield, 2010).…”

“…A number of studies have documented several promising efforts in this regard. Among these discussions, one promising avenue that has received great emphasis is more effective advising processes from teachers and school counselors, such as targeting students for advising, providing advisors with professional development opportunities to learn about college acceleration programs, and making information easily available to both parents and students (e.g., Flores & Gomez, 2011;Goldhaber et al, 2015;Kerr, 2014;Kettler & Hurst, 2017;Quintero, 2019;Whiting & Ford, 2009). For example, Kerr (2014) documented the efforts made by teachers in a high school to close the non-White/ White AP enrollment gap.…”

*Striving to Excel in STEM: Insights From Underrepresented, Minoritized Graduate Students With High Academic Ability

“…However, minoritized students were substantially underrepresented in gifted education and AP courses (Gentry et al, 2019;Kettler & Hurst, 2017). For example, College Board's (2022) AP cohort report showed that for the class of 2021 in the U.S. public schools, Black or African American AP exam takers comprised 8.1% of all AP exam takers, but only 4.6% of AP exam takers who scored 3 or greater; 25.7% of AP exam takers were Hispanic/Latino students who constituted 23.6% of students who scored 3 or higher.…”

An Exploration of Factors That Predict Advanced Placement Exam Success for Gifted Hispanic Students

“…In general, Hispanic and Black students are underrepresented in AP classes (Ford, Grantham, & Whiting, 2008; Handwerk et al, 2008; Klopfenstein, 2004; Solórzano & Ornelas, 2002) and tend to score lower on AP exams than White students (College Board, 2014; Dougherty et al, 2006; Handwerk et al, 2008; Jeong, 2009; Kettler & Hurst, 2017) or Asian/Pacific Islanders (College Board, 2014; Scott et al, 2010). In examining recent AP trends, Judson and Hobson (2015) not only documented tremendous growth in the number of Hispanic students taking AP exams over the past several years but also called attention to the fact that the pass rate for this population of students had decreased significantly during that same time period.…”