Advanced Placement classes are introductory college courses taught in high school. Over 60% of all secondary gifted programs report utilizing AP classes as part of their program offerings (Callahan et al., 2017). Despite the prevalence of AP courses, there is no exact match between this particular type of programming and the needs of gifted…

The charter school movement encompasses many school models. In Massachusetts in the 2010's, the site of our study, urban charter schools primarily used "No Excuses" practices, whereas nonurban charters had greater model variety. Using randomized admissions lotteries, we estimate the impact of charter schools by locality on college…

Most of the literature on lottery-based charter school research focuses on charters in large urban centers, primarily finding that they raise standardized test scores. In contrast, the limited rigorous research on rural and suburban charters suggests that they reduce or do not affect test scores. However, this evidence is limited, and almost no…

The purpose of this narrative analysis was to assess the perceived curricular offerings and challenges of traditional-aged rural students in higher education, and to understand how these challenges relate to AP courses. Specifically, this study assessed the secondary curricular offerings available to rural students and how they affect their…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of open access policies for Advanced Placement (AP) courses on student participation and performance, particularly focusing on minority and low-income students in a rural school district in Central Florida. The study addressed significant barriers to equitable access to AP courses, including…

The charter school movement encompasses many school models. In Massachusetts in the 2010's, the site of our study, urban charter schools primarily used "No Excuses" practices, whereas nonurban charters had greater model variety. Using randomized admissions lotteries, we estimate the impact of charter schools by locality on college…

Automatic enrollment is a straightforward education reform that facilitates both educational excellence and equity in K-12 schools. By automatically placing highly qualified students in advanced coursework, this low-cost, bi-partisan strategy creates opportunities for high achievement for all students, with low-income, rural and small town, and…

Rural Mississippi schools often face challenges in providing equitable access to Advanced Placement (AP) courses, particularly in STEM fields. This lack of access limits opportunities for high-achieving students to pursue rigorous STEM coursework and related careers. The AP STEM program aims to improve access to AP STEM courses for high-achieving…

Although recognized as a highly effective subject-acceleration intervention, accessibility of Advanced Placement (AP) coursework is not equally available to all students. This lack of access may contribute to documented disparities in AP participation between rural schools and their urban and suburban counterparts. The current study explores the…

This report provides information about the educational experiences and opportunities of public school English learner (EL) students in the United States as compared to public school students overall during the 2017-18 school year (SY) based on analyses of two, large, federal datasets: the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) and the Common Core of…

By matching International Baccalaureate (IB) and non-IB U.S. public schools based on state, grade span, and enrollment, we used recent public data to confirm relations among a hierarchy of school characteristics and whether schools made available any of IB's four programs. We fortified prior claims regarding how poverty, minority concentration,…

This report presents key findings from "Learning in the Fast Lane: The Past, Present, and Future of Advanced Placement," by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Andrew E. Scanlan, and published by Princeton University Press in 2019. American education has long been plagued by excellence gaps among the young people who make it into the highest levels…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between career maturity and career decision-making self-efficacy and selected demographic characteristics. The study utilized three instruments for data collection: the Career Maturity Inventory (CMI-R), the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Short-Form (CDSE-SF) and a demographic…

Online courses supplemented by on-site facilitators help many rural students pursue advanced coursework, but research is warranted to better understand facilitator role and training needs. This study examined facilitation experiences, demographic characteristics, and professional development activities of rural on-site facilitators associated with…

This brief assesses trends in access to, enrollment in, and success in Advanced Placement (AP) coursework in relation to school district poverty, racial composition, and urbanicity. It uses data merged from the 2011-2012 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), the 2012 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE), and the 2010 Decennial U.S.…