There are substantial and ongoing concerns in the international secondary and tertiary education sectors about the number of students choosing advanced or higher-level mathematics at upper secondary level. Declining enrolments in the last two years of secondary school in higher-level mathematics is seen as a major concern for the future of STEM…

This memorandum provides information on Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) course enrollment, exam participation, and exam performance during the 2022-2023 school year. During the 2022-2023 school year, 129 AP or IB courses were offered across high schools. Among the 25 comprehensive high schools, all offered AP courses,…

While there is consensus that taking advanced coursework in high school is strongly related to subsequent academic outcomes, well-qualified Students of Color are less likely than White students to take advanced high school courses. K12 schools have sought strategies to encourage more qualified Students of Color to take advanced courses in…

Higher-level mathematics courses in upper secondary school serve as a critical filter to future educational courses and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). However, the percentage of senior school students in Australia undertaking higher-level mathematics courses is decreasing. Given that these courses provide…

Background/Context: Access to rigorous courses in high school is essential for college success (ACT, 2005), but low-income students and students of color take fewer demanding courses than their white and Asian counterparts (Cowan Pitre, 2014; Theokas & Saaris, 2013). The issue of inequitable access to more advanced courses requires a deeper…

Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, the association between high school exit exams and mathematics course-taking patterns is explored. Exit exams are linked to a decreased likelihood of students taking upward-bound mathematics during their four years of high school. Exit exams are also associated with fewer mathematics credits…

This study uses ethnic capital theory to explore access to secondary mathematics education among linguistically diverse (LD) migrants in metropolitan and regional New South Wales, Australia. Administrative data from over 50,000 students who completed their Higher School Certificate in 2017 were analysed using multilevel logit regressions and…

Taking advanced courses in high school predicts a broad array of positive postsecondary and labor market outcomes. Yet students from historically disadvantaged groups and low-income backgrounds have long been underrepresented in these courses. To address this problem, more than 60 districts in Washington state implemented a policy that…

House Bill 5 (HB5) was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2013 which changed high school graduation requirements and defined endorsement options which allowed students more choice in coursework. Focusing on science, the Foundation High School Program (FHSP) requires three science credits for graduation -- Biology, IPC or an Advanced Science…

Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we examine the association between taking Algebra I by the eighth grade and students' later achievements and advanced mathematics course-taking. To explore our research questions, we employ three distinct methods--regression analysis, fixed effects models, and propensity score matching. In all our…

Taking advanced courses in high school predicts many positive outcomes, yet low-income students and students who identify as Black and Hispanic are underrepresented. Policies such as "algebra for all" that accelerate middle school students into advanced courses are well-studied, but little is known about newer academic acceleration…

There is a body of research which highlights the importance of students studying mathematics at an advanced level, hence policy-makers worldwide look for ways to increase the uptake of advanced mathematics. In Ireland, the Government announced the introduction of a Bonus Points Initiative which came into effect in 2012, in an attempt to increase…

In three studies, college student participants read a description of ambiguous (i.e., neither explicitly positive nor explicitly negative) academic feedback from a faculty member. Evaluations of the ambiguous feedback were compared across participants' gender identities and levels of social and intellectual belonging in their academic majors and…

Addressing the participation rates in senior secondary mathematics courses in Australian schools remains a critically important issue. In this paper, the authors report on quantitative findings from a study in which all year 11 and year 12 (aged 17-18 years) Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking (ATAR) students in Western Australia were invited…

Research on the STEM educational pipeline has focused on degree attainment, finding that students who take STEM courses in high school are more likely to declare a STEM major later on (Gottfried & Bozick, "Education Finance and Policy" 11:177-202, 2016) and tend to perform better in college (Sadler & Tai, "Science…