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

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Opportunity Gaps for Students of Diverse Backgrounds

Abstract

This paper estimates the patterns and sources of white-black and white-Hispanic enrollment gaps in Advancement Placement and Dual Enrollment programs across several thousand school districts in the U.S. that have significant populations of black or Hispanic students. By merging several data sources, we show that both AP and DE enrollment gaps vary substantially across districts, with about a quarter of districts with 10 percentage point gaps or larger. Collectively, available district- and state-level policies and characteristics explain one fifth to one quarter of the geographic variation in these racial gaps. The strongest correlates of enrollment gaps include racial composition in a district and proportions of students eligible for free lunch.

Authors

• Sabrina Solanki, University of California - Irvine

• Di Xu, UCI

• John Fink, Community College Research Center