The Racialized Nature of Advanced Placement in Minority White Schools: Magnet Schools and Racial Inequality

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 28. Racialization, Power, and Institutions

Abstract

Although minority White high schools have disproportionate Advanced Placement (AP) participation by race and income-level, we do not understand the role of magnet high schools in these inequalities. Expanding on racialized organizations theory, effectively maintained inequality (EMI), and tracking theory, I evaluate average AP exam scores in a large minority White urban district in the Southwest. Using a multilevel model, I analyze the relationship among student demographics, measures of academic performance, school type, and average AP exam scores. Interactions between student demographics and school type and their relationship with average AP exam scores are also considered. In alignment with the tracking literature, findings suggest that magnet school students, overall, have higher average AP exam scores than their peers. However, Black and Hispanic students, regardless of whether they are enrolled in a comprehensive or magnet high school, have lower average AP exam scores than their comparative in-school peers. These findings suggest that while magnet schools might improve AP exam scores for Black and Hispanic students, they do not create equitable outcomes. In contrast, low-income students in magnet schools score similarly to their non-low-income peers. Nonetheless, the presence of racial inequality in average AP exam scores in both comprehensive and magnet minority White high schools suggests the presence of racialized structures and/or EMI.

Author

• Brianna Freshwater, Southern Methodist University