Advanced Placement Programs: Promoting Equity or Reinforcing Disparities?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: Equity, Disparity, and Educational Policy

Abstract

This study examines how the school-level expansion of Advanced Placement (AP) opportunities may influence the likelihood of AP course-taking among students of different social backgrounds and academic achievement levels. This question is highly relevant to North Carolina policies that seek to increase access to advanced courses as a pathway for reducing inequity in educational opportunities through high school reform. Our findings do not support the rationale behind efforts to expand these programs. We find that increased access to AP courses in schools over a five year period did not translate into relative gains in enrollments for disadvantaged groups. In student level analyses, increased AP access did not mitigate the influence of poverty status or prior academic performance on AP enrollment.

Authors

• Clara G. Muschkin, Duke University

• Kara Bonneau, Duke University