A Critical Race Analysis of Advanced Placement Classes: A Case of Educational Inequality

Abstract

Using critical race theory as a framework, this article provides an examination of access and availability of Advanced Placement (AP)1 courses and how they impact educational outcomes for Chicana/Latina2 students. To begin thinking critically about enrollment patterns of AP classes we ask the following questions:

1. How do school structures, processes, and discourses help maintain racial/ethnic/gender/class discrimination in access to AP/Honors classes?

2. How do Chicana/Latina students and parents respond to the educational structures processes, and discourses that help maintain racial/ethnic/gender/class discrimination in access to AP/Honors classes?

3. How can school reforms help end racial/ethnic/gender/class discrimination in access to AP/Honors classes?

To answer these three questions, we examine a school district in California that serves a large population of Chicana/Latina students. Three different patterns emerged around access and availability of AP classes:

1. Chicana/Latina students are disproportionately underrepresented in AP enrollment district-wide.

2. Schools that serve urban, low-income Chicana/Latina communities have low student enrollment in AP classes.

3. Even when Chicana/Latina students attend high schools with high numbers of students enrolled in AP classes, Chicana/Latina students are not equally represented in AP enrollment. We call this structure and process "Schools Within Schools."

These findings are examined for their theoretical and policy contributions to our understanding of educational outcomes for Latina and Latino students.