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,…

In recent years, the College Board and the Advanced Placement program have pushed for further equity and access for all students (College Board, 2020a). College Board is taking strides to offer students open enrollment to Advanced Placement; however, many underrepresented and low-income students are still unable to access these courses. The…

Students in the United States face an increasingly competitive college admissions process. High school seniors must prove themselves capable of university level work. The standard for evidencing such capacity is through enrollment in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Upon completion of the AP course students sit for the corresponding national exam.…

Advanced Placement® and dual credit coursework have been associated with positive educational attainment outcomes for students and yet opportunity gaps exist for children to access these programs depending on the school they attend. The many benefits of Advanced Placement® and dual credit coursework for students make it necessary that any…

The Washington Legislature directed the State Board of Education (SBE) to provide an analysis of the equity and adequacy of new graduation pathway options through stakeholder outreach and engagement. This report contains the "Second Interim Graduation Pathway Options Report--July 2020" and the "Washington Graduation Pathway Options:…

The number of International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) schools has increased rapidly in China in recent years. However, access to schools offering the IBDP remains restricted to a relatively elite minority of China's population due to enrolment barriers for Chinese nationals and relatively high school fees. An implication is that…

The purpose of this qualitative, explanatory multiple-case study was to examine the perceptions of staff members at two Southern California high schools as they related to the disparate participation in advanced academic programs by ethnic and racial minority and economically disadvantaged students as compared to their White and economically…

The purpose of the study was to investigate participation rates of minorities and economically disadvantaged students in Advanced Placement programs in selected high schools in Northeast Louisiana. Advanced Placement programs in high schools generally promote higher level education courses. The focus of the investigation was perceptions held by…

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…

In 2002-2003, 1 million students participated in AP by taking at least one exam. Five years later, nearly 1.6 million did--a 50+ percent increase. But is growth all good? Might there be a downside? Are ill prepared students eroding the quality of the program? Perhaps harming the best and brightest? To find out, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute…

In fall 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded a three-year project (IB Access Project) with International Baccalaureate (IB) to increase participation of minority students and students in poverty in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP). The IB Access Project seeks to do four things: (1) Improve teacher practice…