Background: African American male students attending U.S. suburban schools remain severely underrepresented in Advanced Placement (AP) programs. A number of structural barriers, including racialized tracking policies; limited referrals from educators and school counselors; conventional AP practices centered on Eurocentric curricula, literature,…

The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of advanced students who live in poverty and their choices regarding taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Ten urban high school students were interviewed regarding their decision-making process regarding coursework to investigate supports or barriers that exist. Four themes became…

In current research and theoretical models that address racial inequity or gender disparities in gifted education, there is a missing narrative around high-achieving/gifted Black girls and their experiences, as well as their disproportionate underrepresentation in gifted programming, services, and Advanced Placement (AP) courses. This article…

This qualitative study explored Latina/o students' sense of belonging in majority White and Asian Advanced Placement (AP) and honors classes in a diverse suburban high school. Using self-determination theory as a framework, I focused on three aspects of sense of belonging: social belonging, teacher-student relationships, and academic belonging.…

The National Math + Science Initiative's (NMSI's) College Readiness Program (CRP) is an established program whose goal is to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education in high schools to improve students' readiness for college. The program provides teacher, student, and school supports to promote high school students'…

Derrick Lindsey, a Black teacher at Leon Middle School, has high aspirations for his career in education and hopes to become an outstanding teacher and transformative educator. He is enthusiastic about his job and passionate about his students; however, he cannot help but notice that there are some serious inequities occurring at Leon. Of primary…

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…

This project described the characteristics and teaching behaviors of those successfully teaching AP® Calculus AB and AP English Literature and Composition to underrepresented minority students. Its purpose was to assist educators in improving the participation and performance of underrepresented minority students in AP classes. Study results…