Increasing Access to Advanced Placement: An Evaluation of the Equal Opportunity Schools Partnership in Maryland

• In Event: Impacts of Community- and School-Based Interventions

Abstract

Low income students and students of color are underrepresented in rigorous secondary courses, which are associated with postsecondary success. In an ongoing partnership, Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) has worked with multiple cohorts of public schools in Maryland to increase the participation of underrepresented (UR) students in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Using a difference-in-differences framework on a matched sample of comparison schools, results indicate that AP course enrollment rates of UR students were 8 percentage points higher than similar schools that did not partner with EOS. Findings also indicate that UR students maintained similar exam performance, suggesting that EOS’ methods of identifying students with AP potential can increase access to rigorous coursework without sacrificing effectiveness.

Author

• Matthew R. Duque, Maryland State Department of Education