Progress or More of the Same? Advanced Placement Courses and Racially Stratified Academic Hierarchies

• In Event: Restricted From Rigor: Race, Class, and the Challenge of Equity in Advanced Placement

Abstract

Examining patterns in Advanced Placement coursework and exam taking show that AP classes persist as a key aspect of racially stratified academic hierarchies (O’Connor, Hill, & Robinson, 2009). They are high-status educational spaces that provide not only potential access to high-level curricula but also weighted grades (with potential to elevate GPA), credentials important for college admissions and possible college course credits. Basic access to such courses is far from equitable with patterns of segregation within and across schools and districts. Recently, one push to address this inequity has been to improve student access to AP courses. However, there is important evidence that such expansion masks potential persistent inequities in whether students are fully benefiting from such course taking. For example, in that state of Illinois, between 2011 and 2015 the number of students taking AP exams jumped from 70,000 to 95,000, an over 1/3 increase (Rado, 2016). This growth in test takers has not closed pre-existing race and class gaps in academic outcomes. Affluent and elite academic high schools have growth in number of test takers and also in the number of students receiving a passing grade on the connected exam. Low-income and majority minority schools have had significant growth in the number of students taking tests but with very little progress in the number receiving passing grades. A close look at the patterns of AP course taking, exam taking and exam passing within the metropolitan area of Chicago reveals many of the embedded challenges.

Author

• Amanda E. Lewis, University of Illinois at Chicago