Fulfilling the Promise: Advanced Placement's Potential to Narrow Disparities and Improve College Outcomes

• In Event: Assessment, Achievement, Accountability, and Outcomes

Abstract

The present study examines the college outcomes of participants in a model Advanced Placement© (AP) intervention in order to shed light on its effectiveness and determine whether improving AP participation and performance is a promising strategy for closing persistent racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in college outcomes. Findings demonstrate that the college outcomes of program participants are better than those of similar students statewide and confirm that AP participation and performance predict college outcomes. However, they also indicate that AP’s potential for closing persistent racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in college outcomes will be limited unless practitioners are able to embed AP into more holistic college readiness interventions and more explicitly target Black, Latino, and low-income students.

Author

• Sarah Phillips, Mass Insight Education & Research