Research indicates that students from marginalized communities do not have the same access to advanced courses as the rest of the population, creating a persistent disparity (Edmunds et al., 2022; Ezzani et al., 2021; Sebastian, 2021). One reason for the equity gap is the existing enrollment process tends to miss qualified students, specifically…

Disproportionate representation of historically underserved students in advanced placement programs, such as the IB program, is a persistent issue nationwide. Despite being called "the great equalizer," public education often perpetuates systemic inequities for marginalized students, including those living in poverty or belonging to…

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 purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the perceptions of minority students and their families in a school district located in the Mississippi Delta Region as they related to the disparate participation in advanced academic programs by ethnic and racial minority students as compared to their White/Caucasian peers. Working within…

The number of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States is rapidly increasing, particularly in high schools. Although the number of ELLs is growing at a fast pace in the United States, the number of ELLs enrolled in advanced educational programming has not increased. After an in-depth review of the extant literature, it is evident that…

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…

In this article, the authors focus on how educators can use their responsibility and power to create learning spaces that foster change by empowering Black and Brown students to emancipate themselves through a process of critically dreaming (Wellington, 2023). The authors approach this work as a West Indian Black woman and a white woman from the…