ERIC Number: EJ1345175
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-May
Pages: 3
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: EISSN-1943-4928
It's Good to Be Popular in High School: A Look at Disparities in STEM AP Offerings in Northern California Public High Schools
Marasco, David; Dreyfuss, Bree Barnett
Physics Teacher, v60 n5 p335-337 May 2022
In 2018, in response to the proposed elimination of physics at a predominately Hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) high school, the Northern California/Nevada chapter of the AAPT investigated school demographics and their effect on physics offerings in public high schools in our region. As access was a key issue, the focus was on public, non-charter high schools, which are free to students and do not require winning a lottery for attendance. As reported previously, the data revealed that the percentage of Hispanic students and the percentage of SED students at a high school are highly correlated (r[superscript 2]=0.60). Additionally, these factors could be used as predictors of a school's physics offerings. To determine if the disparities in course offerings extended through other Advanced Placement (AP) STEM classes, the data were further analyzed, revealing that as the popularity of an AP exam drops, so do the relative odds of it being offered, when comparing schools with different demographics. A Northern California public high school student is much more likely to get a strong selection of AP STEM classes if his/her school serves an affluent, non-Hispanic student majority rather than mostly poor, Hispanic students.
Descriptors: High Schools, Science Instruction, Secondary School Science, Physics, Disadvantaged Schools, Public Schools, Hispanic American Students, Low Income Students, Predictor Variables, Equal Education, Advanced Placement Programs, STEM Education, Access to Education, Socioeconomic Influences, Racial Differences, Social Bias, Racism
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://aapt.scitation.org/journal/pte
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A