The persistent Black and White achievement gap contradicts one of the United States' core values: equal opportunity for all. In response to the problem, schools seek to increase Black students' achievement through programs like Advanced Placement (AP). Although schools have tried to provide an equitable educational experience, the disparity in…

Although African Americans and other minoritized groups have gradually increased in the number of students graduating with a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degree over the years, these groups remain underrepresented in STEM. Among the many factors contributing to the lack of representation is "college…

Data at the national, state, and local levels all indicate disproportionately low enrollment of Black/African American students in Advanced Placement (AP) classes at the high school level. Black/African American students are missing out on educational opportunities and access to an equitable education by not participating in AP classes in high…

This dissertation was designed to provide positive perspectives regarding recruitment and retention practices in an urban school district. Recruiting and retaining African American teachers for Advanced Placement (AP) courses is a vital educational issue in the U. S. The number of African American teachers teaching AP courses was low.A…

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 qualitative study was to investigate disproportionality with respect to Advanced Placement (AP) opportunities for students of color, post qualification, for special education services via the label Specific Learning Disability (SLD). Multiple data sources including existing data, surveys, and semi structured interviews were…

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…

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,…

Students from low-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds are underrepresented in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. This underrepresentation in the AP program denies students of the documented benefits experienced by enrolling in rigorous courses, such as AP, while in high school. This phenomenological qualitative study examined the perception of…

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…

Black male students are underrepresented in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Studies on the perspective and experiences of high-performing Black male students with Advanced Placement (AP) is limited. Available research indicates that high-performing Black students are enrolled at half the rate of White students both nationally and locally in…

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…

The purpose of this study was to learn more about the experiences and perceptions of African American, Latinx, and South Asian American girls of color in academically driven programs in an urban high school. The literature is clear that girls of color are underrepresented in International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced Placement (AP), and Dual…

There is a consensus that today's students in the U.S. are not prepared to fill the almost 1 million unfilled computing jobs in 2024. In the wake of the Computer Science For All initiative in 2016, advocacy groups, such as the Association for Computing Machinery, Code.org and the Computer Science Teachers Association, actively encourage diversity…

This research is comprised of a three-part examination of equity, access, achievement, and learning in precollege physics. The first study examined teacher-level and school-level predictors of student performance in physics, with a focus on isolated teachers in New York during the 2016-17 academic year. Results indicated 40% of physics teachers…