The expansion of Advanced Placement (AP) programs to include students from underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities and those from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds has made it crucial to assess how effective AP courses and exams are for these groups. As AP programs become more popular, more high school students–especially freshmen and sophomores–are signing up for AP courses. Despite this growing trend, there’s still not enough research on how early AP participation affects these particular students. This study fills this research gap by exploring the benefits of early AP involvement for students considered academically underprepared based on prior test scores. We find that early AP course participation leads to higher scores on state exit exams, greater enrollment in early college credit courses, and increased college attendance and completion rates, particularly at four-year institutions. These findings challenge the reliance on prior test scores as the sole predictor of AP success and future academic achievements, suggesting a need for a more comprehensive approach to evaluating students’ readiness for the rigors of AP coursework.

This study examines the availability and outcomes of Advanced Placement (AP) courses in secondary schools in Georgia (USA) and South Carolina (USA), focusing on how school locale (rurality) and demographic composition influence AP availability and student achievement. The authors analyzed population-level school data from the 2021–22 academic year using a two-step quantitative approach. A zero-inflated negative binomial regression model (ZINB) was employed to assess AP course participation and AP exam performance while addressing overdispersion and excess zeros in the data. Key predictors included school locale (rural versus nonrural), state (Georgia versus South Carolina), and minoritized-majority status. This study finds that rural schools and those where minoritized students make up the majority (i.e., fewer than 50% White students) are significantly less likely to offer AP courses or have any students participate in AP exams. Moreover, these schools had a significantly lower success rate; for example, rural schools were 59% less likely to have students with scores above three. The findings indicate that gaps in access to advanced curriculum may exacerbate existing college and career readiness disparities. Moreover, this study confirms that previous research using sampled datasets underestimates the disparity of AP access.

Students respond to classroom activities and achievement outcomes with a variety of emotions that can impact student success. One emotion students experience is anxiety, which can negatively impact student performance and persistence. This study investigated what types of classroom anxiety were related to student performance in the course and persistence in the major. Students in introductory biology classes self-reported their general class, test, communication, and social anxiety; perceived course difficulty; intention to stay in the major; and demographic variables. Final course grades were acquired from instructors. An increase in perception of course difficulty from the beginning to the end of the semester was significantly associated with lower final course grades ( N = 337), particularly for females, non-Caucasians, and students who took fewer Advanced Placement (AP) courses. An increase in communication anxiety slightly increased performance. Higher general class anxiety at the beginning of the semester was associated with intention to leave the major ( N = 122) at the end of the semester, particularly for females. Females, freshmen, and those with fewer AP courses reported higher general class anxiety and perceived course difficulty. Future research should identify which factors differentially impact student anxiety levels and perceived difficulty and explore coping strategies for students.

This study investigated the association between sleep deprivation and enrollment in Advanced Placement (AP) and/or college courses among high school students. Approximately 4,000 surveys were distributed, and 2,197 completed surveys were returned from students in Grades 9 to 12 at 15 high schools in Iowa. Findings indicated the majority of high school students were sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation was significantly associated with enrollment in AP/college courses. Results indicated that enrollment in AP/college courses had a greater impact on younger students than older students. Compared with non–AP/college course takers, AP/college course takers slept approximately 20 minutes less per night. Specifically, 9th- and 10th-grade AP/college course takers slept approximately 1 hour less and 40 minutes less, respectively. In addition, students enrolled in two or more AP/college classes received 1 hour less and 30 minutes less among 10th and 11th graders, respectively. These results provide useful information on adolescent sleep patterns for school nurses.

Students who are African American and male living in the United States have been marginalized from gifted and talented and Advanced Placement (AP) classes in public education. Students who have enrolled in specifically AP English and have taken an AP English exam have been shown to outperform other types of students in college (Barnard-Brak, McGaha-Garnett, & Burely, 2011; Cech, 2008; Chajewski, Mattern, & Shaw, 2011; Hargrove, Godin, & Dodd, 2008; Keng & Dodd, 2008; Mattern, Marini, & Shaw, 2013; Mustafa & Compton, 2017; Patterson & Ewing, 2013). Attending college and earning a collegiate degree offers a multitude of benefits; however, “college entrance and matriculation for African America students remains critically low,” especially for males (Curry & Shillingford, 2015, p. 14). This research study examined how students who are African American and male came to enroll in an AP English course, how they maintained their success in an AP English course, what and who influenced them along the way, and what later impact AP English had on their lives, especially as collegiate scholars. The researcher was the participants’ high school AP English teacher and relied on her personal experiences in teaching AP English to frame her research. The participants attended a high school where the ethnicity demographics of students closely mirrored the ethnicity percentages of the U.S. population. The school is well-funded, well-staffed and serves a middle class socio-economic population. De

... placement students have primarily favored dual credit students (Crouse & Allen, 2013; Mead 2009). Williams (2010) compared dual credit students to advanced placement and traditional students and found no statistically significant groups ... First-Generation College Student Research Studies brings together research from a group of dynamic scholars from a variety of institutions across the United States. This extraordinary edited volume examines the first-generation college student population and analyzes topics such as college choice, social experiences, dual credit on academic success, lifestyles and health status, and professional identity/teaching practices. The empirical studies in this book contribute greatly to the research literature regarding the role that educational leaders have in educating first-generation college students.