Bleske-Rechek, April. “The Pursuit of Equity and Excellence: Advanced Placement Exam Participation and Performance by Sex and by Race/Ethnicity, 1996–2022.” Intelligence, vol. 108, Jan.–Feb. 2025, Article 101894, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2024.101894.
This article analyzes long-term trends in AP exam participation and performance across different sex and racial groups, spanning more than two decades. The article depicts changes in score distributions and representation using College Board data. A notable piece of this study is the documented tension schools face between wanting to expand access to AP tests but keep exam scores high/maintain academic excellence. This is relevant to our project because it is a long-term perspective that takes insights from the past and extracts their relevant context, while also providing information on the challenges holding back access to equity in schools. Our project seeks to look into demographics, so this is also supportive of our thesis by illustrating taht an increase in participation may not eliminate achievement gaps.
Civil Rights Data Collection. https://ocrdata.ed.gov/
Flowers, Lamont A. “Racial Differences in the Impact of Participating in Advanced Placement Programs on Educational and Labor Market Outcomes.” Educational Foundations, vol. 22, 2008, pp. 121–32. ERIC, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ839501.
The article shows that the effects of higher educational achievement and improved labor market outcomes that AP programs bring vary by race. Flowers uses nationally representative data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to analyze college performance, postsecondary attainment, and income outcomes for students who participated in AP programs. This study highlights both the overall benefits of AP participation and the need to understand how these benefits differ by race. This source strengthens our thesis in terms of reinforcing that AP participation is linked to success beyond high school. It also helps us consider how educational opportunities may produce unequal outcomes across racial groups, highlighting the importance of equitable access and support in advanced coursework.
Granados, Otto. “Commentary: Assessing Strategies for Combatting Discrimination in Education.” Public Administration Review, vol. 77, no. 1, 2017, pp. 90–90, https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12709.
This commentary gives a short overview of the effects of inequality within society, including in education, imprisonment, social mobility, violence, and child well-being outcomes. It points to the role of the lottery system in Mexican education system, and suggests that broader major cultural change may be needed. Since this commentary was written by the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico, it was helpful in giving a perspective of a top-level administrator who has broad influence over a public education system. It points to the understanding that administrators have over an education system, and while this article wasn’t written in an American context, we can draw parallels between the function of public schools in both societies and how they can be changed.
Hirschl, Noah, and Christian Michael Smith. “Advanced Placement Gatekeeping and Racialized Tracking.” Sociology of Education, vol. 96, no. 3, 2023, pp. 190–210, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00380407231161334.
Hirschl and Smith examine how school policies and counselor recommendations influence AP placement, revealing patterns of racialized tracking. Their findings show that even students with similar academic records experience different AP access based on race. The article demonstrates how subjective gatekeeping practices limit opportunities for Black and Latino students. This source is useful for our project because it explains how inequality operates within schools, not just between them. It strengthens our argument by identifying institutional bias as a key factor in AP disparities.t
Iatarola, Patrice, Dylan Conger, and Mark C. Long. “Determinants of High Schools’ Advanced Course Offerings.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, vol. 33, no. 3, 2011, pp. 340–359, doi.org/10.3102/0162373711398124.
This source examines how AP program offerings vary across schools. It specifically examines how the school’s local context and infrastructure affect the implementation of these programs, rather than assuming they are evenly distributed. It is a strong pairing with our data because it provides insights into the distribution of AP classes across infrastructure and systemic forces. This article supports the claim that there are demographic imbalances in access to AP offerings.
Klopfenstein, Kristin. “Advanced Placement: Do Minorities Have Equal Opportunity?” Economics of Education Review, vol. 23, no. 2, Apr. 2004, pp. 115–131, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7757(03)00076-1.
This study explores whether minority students actually have equal opportunity when it comes to accessing AP courses. The article dives into the differences in school resources and course availability as tied to AP offerings and enrollment. Factors like school characteristics like size, funding, and demographic composition are shapers. The results of the study indicate that minorities are less likely to attend school with robust AP programs which immediately limits the opportunities, regardless of individual performance. This article is relevant and useful for our project because it highlights the structural inequalities at the school level, and reinforces the idea that AP participation disparity is more rooted in resources allotted to schools instead of the individual ability of the student.
Klugman, Joshua. “The Advanced Placement Arms Race and the Reproduction of Educational Inequality.” Teachers College Record, vol. 115, 2013, https://sites.temple.edu/klugman/files/2013/06/Klugman-2013-TCR-AP-Arms-Race.pdf.
Klugman analyzes how competition among high schools to expand Advanced Placement programs can unintentionally reinforce educational inequality. Using national data, he shows that wealthier schools are more able to increase AP offerings, while under-resourced schools fall behind, widening gaps in opportunity. Rather than creating equal access, AP expansion often benefits students who already have advantages. This source is important to our project because it highlights how institutional pressures shape who gains access to advanced coursework. It supports our focus on structural inequality within AP systems.
Kolluri, Sai. “Advanced Placement: The Dual Challenge of Equal Access and Effectiveness.” Review of Educational Research, vol. 88, no. 5, 2018, pp. 671–711, https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318787268.
Kolluri reviews research on Advanced Placement programs to examine both access and student outcomes. He argues that although AP enrollment has increased, racial and socioeconomic disparities remain, and participation alone does not guarantee academic success. The article emphasizes that students from marginalized backgrounds often lack sufficient academic support once enrolled in AP courses. This source contributes to our project by showing that equity requires more than open enrollment policies. It complements Klugman’s argument by stressing that access without effectiveness does not resolve inequality.
Owen, Stephanie. “The Advanced Placement Program and Educational Inequality.” Education Finance and Policy, vol. 20, no. 1, 2025, pp. 1–32. MIT Press, doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00395.
Owen analyzes the correlation between AP participation and educational inequality. The study examines whether AP access has a significant impact on opportunity gaps. The article emphasizes that the increase in AP course availability does not automatically help students from disadvantaged backgrounds overcome barriers to success. It is helpful to our project because it examines more than just AP = progress and considers who ultimately benefits from the programs.
Parra-Martinez, Andy, Rian Rinaldi Djita, and Jonathan Wai. “Does Policy Translate into Equity? The Association between Universal Advanced Placement Access, Student Enrollment, and Outcomes.” Journal of Advanced Academics, vol. 36, no. 2, 25 Nov. 2024, https://doi.org/10.1177/1932202X241295312.
This article looks into whether universal AP access policies really affect the equitability of student enrollment and subsequent academic outcomes. Using large-scale administrative data, the authors analyze how open enrollment mandates influence course participation and exam outcomes within different demographic groups. The findings indicate that policy changes can increase the overall AP enrollment but disparities affecting certain groups continue to bleed into the exam outcomes. This resource is important because it directly evaluates the efficacy of structural reforms intended to create more equity across groups, and evaluating the strength of such policies is crucial both to our understanding of the data and the narrative we wish to create using this as context. For our thesis, this resource specifically shows that policy shifts alone are not enough to bridge gaps without also addressing academic preparation and support gaps, while showing that policy does increase enrollment.
Phillips, Sarah Fierberg, and Brett Lane. “The Potential of Advanced Placement to Improve College Outcomes and Narrow Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Disparities.” Journal of Advanced Academics, vol. 32, no. 4, Nov. 2021, pp. 469–500. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1177/1932202X211018646.
The article argues that increasing Advanced Placement participation and performance can improve college outcomes and help reduce racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in higher education. The authors analyze college outcome data from students who participated in a targeted AP intervention program and compare their results to similar students across the state. This study is important because it gives empirical evidence that AP access and success are linked to higher college persistence and graduation, especially for historically underserved students. This source supports our project/thesis because it shows how expanding access to rigorous academic pathways can help address educational inequalities.
Rodriguez, Awilda, and Keon M. McGuire. “More Classes, More Access? Understanding the Effects of Course Offerings on Black-White Gaps in Advanced Placement Course-Taking.” The Review of Higher Education, vol. 42, no. 2, 2019, pp. 641–79. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/712611.
This article argues that simply increasing the number of AP course offerings in high schools does not reduce racial gaps in AP participation and may actually widen Black-White disparities. The authors also use national school-level data from the Office for Civil Rights and apply an instrumental variable statistical approach to estimate the effects of AP course offerings. This study challenges the common assumption that expanding AP access leads to greater equity, showing that structural inequalities within schools still shape outcomes. This source helps our thesis by demonstrating that access without targeted support doesn’t automatically lessen opportunity gaps. It helps highlight the role of systemic barriers in AP coursework and strengthens the argument that equity-focused interventions are required alongside greater AP access.
Scanlan, Andrew E. and Chester E. Finn. Learning in the Fast Lane : The Past, Present, and Future of Advanced Placement. Princeton University Press, 2019.
Scanlan and Finn argue that the AP program has evolved to become a powerful tool for educational equity and upward mobility for historically overlooked students. The authors utilize a bend of historical records, College Board data, and fieldwork including interviews and case studies from urban, suburban, and charter school environments across the United States. This book is important for understanding the history and the potential future of the AP program, as well as bringing up issues with the system such as the disproportionate levels of Black and Latino students who do not get passing scores on AP exams. Therefore, it provides a context for this project situating it in the historical narrative of how and why the AP program was created and illustrates not only its successes but the challenges it faces.
Schneider, Jack. “Privilege, equity, and the Advanced Placement Program: tug of war.” Journal of Curriculum Studies, vol. 41, no. 6, Oct. 2009, pp. 813–831. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220270802713613
This article gives a history of AP exams and their ideological orgins. Their function was to allow high-achieving students at wealthy high schools in affluent suburbia to push themselves harder, within a broader context of providing US students an edge in the sciences and weapons development during the Cold War. An unintended effect was purportedly their increased value in college admissions. AP expanded rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s, with some having the belief that it could be used to address inequities in the broader education system. The article concludes with noting that wealthy high schools have now begun to drop the AP program, citing a lack of prestige, while less wealthy schools have expanded enrollment for the benefits it gives students and educators. This article was helpful for our project because it gives a history of the AP program and what it was designed for, putting our project in a broader historical context. The article could’ve been strengthened in its considerations of AP exam adoption more broadly and in less affluent schools, taking a more humanistic approach instead of focusing solely on the test itself.
Smith, Jonathan, Michael Hurwitz, and Christopher Avery. “Giving College Credit Where It Is Due: Advanced Placement Exam Scores and College Outcomes.” Journal of Labor Economics, vol. 35, no. 1, 2017, pp. 67–147, doi.org/10.1086/687568.
This source investigates how AP exam scores relate to later college outcomes. The article examines whether AP is a symbolic credential or a measurable mechanism for assessing postsecondary outcomes. Our data are limited to access to AP programs; this source can help corroborate not only access but also, given access, how performance in these classes affects long-term trajectories.
Solórzano, Daniel G. and Ornelas, Armida. “A Critical Race Analysis of Advanced Placement Classes: A Case of Educational Inequality.” Journal of Latinos and Education, vol. 1, no. 4, 2002, pp. 215–229. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532771XJLE0104_2
This article gives a case study of a California school district considering AP enrollment by race. It found that Latina students were disproportionately underrepresented in AP enrollment, that school that serve low-income Chicana communities have low student enrollment in AP classes generally, and that there is a “schools within schools” effect with AP enrollment. The article describes this effect as that even in schools with high AP enrollment and a high proportion of Chicana students, the enrollment of Chicana students in AP enrollment is relatively low. The authors end with recommendations for both K-12 institutions and university admissions. The article was helpful in modeling what an analysis could look like of demographic enrollment in AP courses, and what conclusions can be drawn from such an analysis. The policy-level recommendations were also very helpful in thinking about what questions we are trying to answer in our analysis.