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

Abstract

Hispanic students participate in advanced programming at a much lower rate than their White peers. Although Advanced Placement (AP) can have a positive impact on future academic success and attainment of long-term goals, limited research has investigated factors that contribute to AP success for gifted Hispanic students. This study examined factors potentially predictive of success on AP exams for gifted Hispanic students. Contrary to prior literature, findings revealed that race/ethnicity was not a factor that significantly affected AP success for these gifted students. In addition, when examining the performance of all the Hispanic AP students, the only factor that significantly contributed to passing an AP exam was identification as gifted. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.

A Pragmatic Analysis of How North Carolina School Districts Aim to Differentiate for Gifted High School Students

“…These options may naturally include and overlap with curriculum and instructional differentiation, advanced coursework, and curriculum acceleration. Other accelerated options include grade skipping (Assouline et al, 2015; Rogers, 2008), early graduation and entrance to college (Hertzog et al, 2021), and AP courses (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018; Graefe & Ritchotte, 2019; Rogers, 2008; Steenbergen-Hu et al, 2016).…”

“…These options may naturally include and overlap with curriculum and instructional differentiation, advanced coursework, and curriculum acceleration. Other accelerated options include grade skipping (Assouline et al, 2015;Rogers, 2008), early graduation and entrance to college (Hertzog et al, 2021), and AP courses (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018;Graefe & Ritchotte, 2019;Rogers, 2008;Steenbergen-Hu et al, 2016). Differentiated Curriculum, Instruction, Assessments, and Learning Environments Differentiation can also be conceptualized as a pedagogical approach, framework, or service delivery model within a component of a larger comprehensive program that is implemented at the classroom or grade level by making adaptations to curriculum, instruction, assessments, and learning environments (Hockett & Doubet, 2020;Ziernwald et al, 2022).…”

Connecting QuantCrit to Gifted Education Research: An Introduction

“…Using this framework allowed these authors to acknowledge how multiple aspects of a student’s world, specifically race and class together, influenced students’ experiences in gifted education. In the same volume, Graefe and Ritchotte (2019) also explored advanced coursework, specifically Advanced Placement exam success predictors for Hispanic students. 2 Within their logistic regression, they included multiple variables as predictors to provide a more holistic understanding of the American student experience.…”

Investigating Advanced Placement Performance Gaps in the Social Sciences

“…There has also been much emphasis placed on ethnicity gaps in performance levels (Kettler & Hurst, 2017;Alvarado & Muniz, 2018;Graefe & Ritchotte, 2019;Rodriguez & McGuire, 2019;Judson 2017, Kang et al, 2018. However, other key indicators, such as campus and home environment have not been addressed.…”