Resisting "Mas o Menos": A School-University Partnership to Boost Latina/o Success in Advanced Coursework

• In Event: Leveraging School-University Partnership Research for School Improvement

Abstract

This case study (Yin, 2009) reports a successful High School-University partnership to increase Latino/a enrollment and success in Advanced Placement coursework through a Pre-AP group. The Ascend group included a series of workshops promoting Growth Mindset (Yeager & Dweck, 2012). Students were offered agentive roles (Davies and Harre, 1999) as consultants on ways to increase Latino/a AP enrollment, including interviewing current AP students, analyzing survey data, and presenting findings to the principal. The second semester, the focus shifted to completing AP prompts. Students engaged in academic discussion and crafted evidence-based arguments from multiple texts (Hillocks, 2011). Interview and survey data showed that students valued the group. AP enrollment increased, and there are promising indications of an impact on student achievement.

Authors

• Ryan McCarty, National Louis University

• Timothy C. Pappageorge, Maine West High School, District 207