Advanced Placement for All (AP for All) is a high school reform movement designed to address systemic inequities in student access to advanced coursework. However, the evidence of the impact of the AP Program for traditionally underrepresented students is mixed. One way to view AP for All is as one of many examples of promising initiatives which,…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) has long played a substantial, though controversial, role within America's public schools. While supporters argue that CTE may increase student engagement and prepare students for success in the workforce, detractors caution that CTE may inhibit students' access to the rigorous academic coursework needed for…

In 2018, in response to the proposed elimination of physics at a predominately Hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) high school, the Northern California/Nevada chapter of the AAPT investigated school demographics and their effect on physics offerings in public high schools in our region. As access was a key issue, the focus was on…

This book walks readers through the stages of the high school college prep pipeline that introduce interlocked structural barriers to student achievement. The author shows how these barriers reinforce segregated structures that unfairly distribute the public good of education to some students and not others. Price argues that the college prep…

College Preparatory Programs with Exams (CPPEs) include academically-rigorous high school classes that culminate in standardized exam-based assessments. Students take the classes as part of their high school schedule and apply them toward their graduation requirements, typically whether or not they take the exams at the end. Without the exam,…

Benefits of graduating with a college degree include higher earnings, lower unemployment rates, improved health, and increased job satisfaction. A number of college-ready programs are offered to help prepare students for postsecondary education and careers (e.g., advanced placement, International Baccalaureate, dual enrollment, Tech Prep);…

This paper argues for a radical restructuring of education for grades 11-14--by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high school and college--to open opportunities for the learners the current systems leave behind. The authors make the case for an entirely new type of institution--neither high school nor college--designed specifically to…

This is a hearing of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and it is focused on, "Effective Strategies for Accelerated Learning." This phrase "accelerated learning," has been used to refer to a variety of issues in education. In the context of this hearing, the Committee is referring to different approaches that…

Distance learning has been used as one method to increase access for students who have otherwise been underrepresented in college preparatory courses like Advanced Placement (AP). This study evaluated the impact of a statewide Virtual Advanced Placement (VAP) program on access to AP courses for students from underrepresented populations. Survey…

We have just completed the data collection for our 2012-13 Nationwide Survey of High School Physics and expect to have results to report in the spring. In the interim, we will take a look at physics in two-year colleges (TYCs). In 2007, we surveyed undergraduate seniors in degree-granting physics departments, and we asked these students if they…

This study explores whether students from low-income families and racial/ethnic minority groups have the opportunity to benefit in what is arguably the most rigorous type of credit-based transition program: the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). The analyses first describe national longitudinal trends in characteristics of…

Participation in Advanced Placement (AP) classes and AP test-taking are widely viewed as indicators of students' college readiness. We analyzed enrollment in AP courses and AP test outcomes in Arizona to document disparities in students' access to rigorous curricula in high school and outline some implications of these patterns for education…

In the Shattering Expectations series, the reports focus on calling attention to gaps at the high end of achievement and shattering expectations about the achievement of our low-income students and students of color that have existed for far too long. Each report will provide examples of schools that are breaking long entrenched patterns and how…

In a 2010 address to the College Board, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan laid out a vision for high school that advances the Obama administration's goal of the U.S. once again leading the world in educational attainment. There is no grade in which the magnitude and complexity of this shift becomes clearer than in senior year. Historically,…

While Advanced Placement (AP) programs have been traditionally targeted toward academically prepared students, some secondary administrators make AP courses accessible to all students in order to support college readiness. The purpose of the present study is to explore how the AP program is being implemented in an urban school where many students…