In this study, we used an extreme case approach to examine the facilitators and barriers of cognitive engagement among freshmen in Advanced Placement (AP) or Pre-International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. Twelve ninth-grade AP/IB students participated in semistructured interviews focused on cognitive engagement. After analyzing the data using a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of open access policies for Advanced Placement (AP) courses on student participation and performance, particularly focusing on minority and low-income students in a rural school district in Central Florida. The study addressed significant barriers to equitable access to AP courses, including…

The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) endeavors to promote both challenging academic instruction and more holistic aims--namely, intercultural understanding and respect. Throughout its history, the IB system has managed at least three ongoing tensions, which stem from its multifaceted aims and which the system has evolved to manage.…

Across the United States, African American males face barriers to securing a quality education. Barriers such as educational gatekeeping, and low identification, have caused African American males' enrollment in advanced placement courses to be at a rate lower than all other ethnicity and gender populations. A qualitative approach to research was…

As students and educators head back for another pandemic-disrupted school year, the third and final edition of Quality Counts 2021 provides a broad perspective on the nation's K-12 system, with summative grades and scores for the U.S. and each state on a range of academic, financial, and socioeconomic indicators that underlie student achievement…

With the changes in the educational landscape, holding students' attention has become an even more crucial point. Educators are having to find creative ways and means to engage students and make learning 'fun'. There have been numerous research studies to show that gamification can be used to drive student engagement, achievement, and reinforce…

This report provides a summary of the district's gap analyses, Equity Self-Assessment Survey results, current research, and district action steps.

Despite their better-than-average preparation, former dual credit and advanced placement students have placed into developmental education upon entering higher education. In this phenomenological study, six students were randomly selected to be interviewed from a group of 562 who placed into developmental education at one Texas university during a…

The school-to-prison pipeline refers to the disturbing national trend in which children are funneled out of public schools and into juvenile and criminal justice systems. The purpose of this article is to theorize how this pipeline fulfills societal commitments to black male over-incarceration. First, the author reviews the troublesome perceptions…

The division of college, career and technical education (CCTE) of the Tennessee Department of Education established the office of postsecondary coordination and alignment in 2012 for the purpose of expanding and promoting early postsecondary opportunities (EPSOs) for all high school students across the state. The office is also charged with…

The Oakland Accelerates Program, funded by an Investing in Innovation (i3) development FY2011 grant, was a collaborative process for increasing the Oakland Unified School District's (California) capacity to support each and every student to graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills to be successful in college and postsecondary…

Despite all intentions in the course of the Bologna Process and decades of investment into improving the social dimension, results in many national and international studies show that inequity remains stubbornly persistent, and that inequity based on socio-economic status, parental education, gender, country-of-origin, rural background and more…

In order to gain a better understanding about Latino student underrepresentation in advanced placement (AP) coursework, this investigation explored the factors that inhibit and/or encourage Latino student enrollment in AP coursework at one suburban public high school in the Western United States. Latino high-school students and their parents…

Originally founded as a private means for diplomats' children to earn an internationally recognized high school diploma, today the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) serves students from a variety of backgrounds in 144 countries. The IB mission and Learner Profile--consisting of ten attributes to foster in students--suggest…

Currently school reform discourse encourages states to adopt college readiness standards. Meanwhile, federal and state accountability and related mandated reforms remain a policy concern. As such, it is important to examine the interplay between accountability and the establishment of a college-going culture in high "minority", high…