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 International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is an international college-preparatory program that offers two levels of participation: IB diploma candidate and IB course candidate. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference in college-related outcome achievement between these groups so that students and…

The problem investigated in this study focused on continued underrepresentation of African-American students taking Advanced Placement courses as compared to their peers. The purpose of the qualitative, phenomenological study was to understand how students perceived their experiences and factors that contributed to the lack of African American…

The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers a platform to enact wide-scale reform in our nation's science classrooms, including populations traditionally underserved in science. Research shows that students who pass AP exams are more likely to succeed in college science courses and pursue a career in science. While the number of students…

Although the rapidly expanding International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a well-recognized program perceived to offer best practices in education, including developing international mindedness in students and engaging with the local communities, there is little empirical evidence to support these outcomes. This mixed methods case…

This study compared student academic achievement in two college readiness programs, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) and attempted to determine how well program participation predict student performance compared to variables such as SES, parent education level, GPA, gender, and SAT II scores. Finally, the research…

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…

The Ohio PSEO Program is a legislated dual enrollment curricular offering. The program provides higher educational courses that are also credited at the high school and funded at state expense for qualifi ed students. Although individual and institutional benefits of the program abound (i.e., accelerated postsecondary completion, decreased…