Advanced Placement Enrollment Research Articles

Effects of a Growth Mindset Intervention on Ninth Grade Students’ Self-Perception of AP Enrollment Likelihood

Students of color and low-income students face external barriers that prevent them from reaching equal representation in Advanced Placement (AP) classes in the United States. Internal barriers, like self-doubt, however, may be just as effective at decreasing enrollment likelihood for these populations. This trend has been noticed even in regions of the U.S. that have very diverse high school populations. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects that a growth mindset can have on historically-underrepresented students’ self-perceived AP enrollment likelihood. A growth mindset intervention was administered to five standard level freshman English classes via PowerPoint presentation. These classes were chosen based on a calculated diversity score to examine historically-underrepresented populations. Two surveys were completed by students before and after the intervention. The surveys collected information on students’ self-perception of their likelihood of enrolling in an AP class in their future high school years. The analysis revealed that students who struggled to use a growth mindset had a significant increase in self-perceived AP enrollment likelihood. Based on the gap in research regarding growth mindset and AP enrollment, these analyses provide evidence that growth mindset interventions could potentially help more students overcome their internal barriers and have the confidence to enroll in AP classes.

Advanced Placement and Equity: A Case Study of Two Suburban School Districts

This case study mapped patterns of disproportionality in Advanced Placement (AP) access, enrollment, and completion for systemically excluded students through secondary data analysis of the Civil Rights Data Collection (2015–6), and documents the degree of segregation within two diverse school districts. Although there was relatively robust overall AP course availability in both school districts, access and degree of racial segregation varied widely within the school districts. Findings establish disproportionality in AP enrollment and completion rates for Black and Latinx students. Such findings demonstrate the need for more research in regard to AP enrollment and completion for systemically excluded students.

All In? Inequities in Hispanic Access and Enrollment in Advanced Placement

ABSTRACT In response to the national problem of overrepresentation of Hispanic students in general education classes, this study addressed Hispanic access and enrollment in Advanced Placement (AP) coursework in Virginia, a growing destination state for many Hispanic families and students. Through a secondary data analysis of the Civil Rights Data Collection (2015–6), this study mapped patterns of disproportionality in AP access and enrollment for Hispanic students who comprise 13% of enrollment in Virginia public high schools. Although greater AP course availability was found in suburban schools, where most Hispanic students are enrolled, there was disproportionality in regard to alternative schools. Further findings document disproportionality in AP enrollment for STEM and non-STEM coursework for Hispanic students. Such findings demonstrate the need for more research and reform in regard to AP access and enrollment for systemically excluded students.

“I'm Trying to Beat a Stereotype”: Suburban African American Male Students’ Social Supports and Personal Resources for Success in AP English Coursework

Background African American male students attending U.S. suburban schools remain severely underrepresented in Advanced Placement (AP) programs. A number of structural barriers, including racialized tracking policies; limited referrals from educators and school counselors; conventional AP practices centered on Eurocentric curricula, literature, and pedagogies; and educators’ deficit mindsets toward Black masculinity, mitigate African American male students’ access to and success in suburban AP classrooms. Despite these sobering realities, African American male students have achieved success in AP English Language Arts coursework. Yet few researchers have investigated the multiple and complex forms of support to which African American male students attribute their successful performance in AP English coursework in suburban high schools. Purpose/Research Question In an effort to close opportunity gaps in AP English programs, the present study illuminates the social supports and personal resources that African American male students mobilized to earn exemplary grades (i.e., maintaining a grade of B- or higher, or 79.6% or higher out of 100%) in an AP English Language and Composition and/or an English Literature and Composition course, and earn a passing score on the formal AP exam (i.e., 3 or higher). Countering deficit-oriented research paradigms, we employed an anti-deficit achievement framework to (re)position young African American men as capable, motivated, and agentive learners who marshal complex supportive networks, as well as their own personal resources, to successfully learn academic literacies in AP English classrooms. Our inquiry was guided by the following research question: To what social supports and personal resources do young African American men who graduated from a suburban high school attribute their success in AP English coursework? Participants Eight young African American men who were enrolled in AP English coursework in a suburban Mid-Atlantic secondary school were the participants in this study. Participants were successful learners who received exemplary grades in an AP English class, were taught by the first author, and earned a passing score on an AP English exam. Participants’ ages ranged from 21 to 33 years, and all were attending or had graduated from a four-year college or university. Research Design The young men participated in one-on-one, in-depth interviews. Interviews probed the participants’ personal experiences in AP English, their perspectives in achieving success in the class and on the formal exam, and their recollections of the AP English curriculum, and were cross-analyzed for common sources of supports through multiple coding cycles. Findings The young men highlighted six sources of support that were integral to their AP English success. They described three sources of social supports—the wisdom, guidance, and caring that they received from family members, English teachers, and peers—that promoted their success in AP English. In addition, participants identified three types of personal resources—their own college aspirations, persistence in learning academic literacies, and racial consciousness—that inspired and motivated their high scholastic achievement in AP English. Conclusion By mobilizing the rich social supports and personal resources in their lives, African American male students have the resilience, courage, and the intelligence to enroll and succeed in AP English coursework. We suggest that suburban school administrators, school counselors, and teachers use open AP enrollment policies; work closely with and provide pertinent information to African American families; address students’ social emotional concerns; and ensure that AP English pedagogical practices are humanizing to improve the recruitment and retention of African American male students in AP English programs. Finally, we contend that educational scholars and practitioners must continue to engage in research and practice that nurture young African American male students’ social supports and personal resources for AP English success.

Dismantling Roadblocks to Equity? The Impact of Advanced Placement Initiatives on Black and Latinx Students’ Access and Performance

Background Increasing access to Advanced Placement (AP) coursework has been a long-term goal of the College Board and many districts across the country, yet achieving this goal has remained elusive, particularly for African American and Latinx youth and youth in poverty. Purpose In this study, we analyze the work of five districts that have identified inequities in AP participation and developed initiatives to address these inequities. We examine these districts’ strategies, as well as their impact on both access to AP coursework and success on AP exams. We consider how efforts to increase access to AP have affected different racial/ethnic student groups. Participants The five districts are led by superintendents who were members of the Instructional Leaders Network (ILN), a statewide network that focuses on supporting superintendents’ system-wide, equity-focused improvement. The districts vary in demographics, size, and socioeconomic status. Data Collection and Analysis This mixed methods study includes five years of AP enrollment and performance data for four districts, and two years of data for one district. We also identified two of these districts as case studies of AP initiative development and implementation and conducted a series of interviews with administrators from the districts over the five years of the study. We analyzed quantitative data descriptively and used Bonilla-Silva's (2018) concept of color-blind racism to analyze these data in relation to the interview data. Findings All districts adopted strategies focused on students as a whole, which for the most part led to an increase in access for all racial/ethnic groups, but no consistent pattern of reducing over- or under-representation. In terms of outcomes, in some districts, more students received scores of 3 or higher from all racial/ethnic groups, but disparities in average test scores remained. Additionally, across all districts, Black students continued to receive the lowest scores. Conclusions As school districts, individual high schools, and the College Board continue their focus on increasing equity in both access and performance, their approaches need to involve ongoing data collection and evaluation on how different programs and initiatives are positively or negatively affecting student populations that have been traditionally under-served as well as students in general. This research demonstrates that color-neutral policies need to be constantly interrogated by K–12 administrators and other stakeholders to ensure that the policies do not reinforce and sustain existing inequities. If districts seek to target groups of students who are underserved, they need to consider strategies and policies that explicitly and directly address those groups.

Advance Placement and The Achievement Gap in the 21st Century: A Multiple Linear Regression of Marginalized Populations in AP Enrollment

The analysis of the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) enrollment focused on marginalized populations' (i.e., African American, Hispanic, and poor students) limited access and the schools' efforts to bridge the gaps. Little research has been done on marginalized populations' AP passage rates. The researchers of this correlational study investigated AP enrollment and passage rates in public and charter high schools in Florida (n = 355) by comparing the enrollment and passage proportions amongst Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic students as well as the proportions of students who received free or reduced lunch. The results showed a weak, positive relationship between proportions of Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian students passing AP exams and the proportion of AP students enrolled. There was a strong, positive relationship amongst the proportions of African-American, Hispanic, and Caucasian students who passed the exam. However, a weak, negative relationship was found between the proportions of students who were enrolled in AP classes and those who received free or reduced lunch. There was also a negative relationship between Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian students passing the AP exam and the percentage of the school's population enrolled in free or reduced lunch. The findings suggest that schools with high poverty rates have a low enrollment rate of students in AP courses. The focus on AP enrollment rates for minority students has led to increased rates of minorities successfully completing advanced coursework, but there is still a need for similar focus on high poverty schools.

Confronting the “Acid Test”: Educators’ Perspectives on Expanding Access to Advanced Placement at a Diverse Florida High School

This study examines educators’ perspectives on accountability mandates designed to expand access to the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) classes to traditionally underserved students at a diverse suburban high school in Florida, Palm Crest High School. Consistent with Elmore (1979), district and site-based administrators focused on the “forward mapping,” of implementation and identified teacher “gatekeeping” as well as parental expectations as chief barriers to opening up AP enrollment. Teachers, however, found implementation problematic—accountability levers had contradictory provisions and overall neglect nonacademic barriers to college access for low-income African American and Hispanic students. The current value-added model of incorporating student exam performance as a key component of teacher evaluations complicates the advocacy associated with increasing low-SES students’ participation in AP classes as educators strive to maintain high pass rates amid open-enrollment policies. We argue for increased support systems to enhance students’ preparedness for taking college-level courses while in high school, leading to increased college attendance and degree completion.

Gender, Academics, and Interscholastic Sports Participation at the School Level: A Gender-specific Analysis of the Relationship between Interscholastic Sports Participation and AP Enrollment

While literature demonstrates that interscholastic sports participation is associated with positive academic outcomes, this relationship is rarely analyzed at a macro level (the school level). To date, there is no research examining whether increases in schools’ female and male interscholastic sports participation rates are associated with increases in female and male advanced placement (AP) enrollment rates. Using a national sample of 4,644 public high schools during the 2009–2010 school year, the authors test several gender-specific hypotheses linked with the association between schools’ sport participation rates and AP enrollment rates (AP math, AP science, AP foreign language, and overall AP enrollment). The findings reveal that schools’ female and male sports participation rates have a positive association with schools’ female and male AP math, AP science, AP foreign language, and overall AP enrollment rates. Moreover, the findings suggest that females benefit more than males in regard to the positive relationship between interscholastic sports and AP enrollment.

A Critical Race Analysis of Latina/o and African American Advanced Placement Enrollment in Public High Schools

Using critical race theory as a framework, this article examines the access and availability of Advanced Placement (AP)1 courses and how they impact educational outcomes for Latina/o2 and African American students. To begin thinking critically about enrollment patterns of AP courses we ask the following questions: How do school structures, practices, and discourses help maintain racial and ethnic discrimination in access to AP courses? How do Latina/o and African American students and parents respond to the educational structures, practices, and discourses that help maintain racial and ethnic discrimination in access to AP courses? Finally, how can school reforms help end racial and ethnic discrimination in access to AP courses? In order to answer these questions, we examined a school district in California that serves a large population of Latina/o and African American students. Three different patterns emerged around access and availability of AP courses: Latina/o students are disproportionately underrepresented in AP enrollment district-wide; schools that serve urban, low-income Latina/o and African American communities have low student enrollment in AP courses; and even when Latina/o and African American students attend high schools with high numbers of students enrolled in AP courses, they are not equally represented in AP enrollment. We call this structure and process "Schools Within Schools."

A Critical Race Analysis of Advanced Placement Classes: A Case of Educational Inequality

Using critical race theory as a framework, this article provides an examination of access and availability of Advanced Placement (AP)1 courses and how they impact educational outcomes for Chicana/Latina2 students. To begin thinking critically about enrollment patterns of AP classes we ask the following questions: 1. How do school structures, processes, and discourses help maintain racial/ethnic/gender/class discrimination in access to AP/Honors classes? 2. How do Chicana/Latina students and parents respond to the educational structures processes, and discourses that help maintain racial/ethnic/gender/class discrimination in access to AP/Honors classes? 3. How can school reforms help end racial/ethnic/gender/class discrimination in access to AP/Honors classes? To answer these three questions, we examine a school district in California that serves a large population of Chicana/Latina students. Three different patterns emerged around access and availability of AP classes: 1. Chicana/Latina students are disproportionately underrepresented in AP enrollment district-wide. 2. Schools that serve urban, low-income Chicana/Latina communities have low student enrollment in AP classes. 3. Even when Chicana/Latina students attend high schools with high numbers of students enrolled in AP classes, Chicana/Latina students are not equally represented in AP enrollment. We call this structure and process "Schools Within Schools." These findings are examined for their theoretical and policy contributions to our understanding of educational outcomes for Latina and Latino students.