Access to & Quality of Advanced Placement Programs in Select Oakland, Piedmont, and Alameda High Schools Nancy Acevedo Urban Planning 206A Fall 2010 Final Project

Advanced Placement Courses AP exams College level courses offered in 11 th and 12 th grade with proficiency exam. “Benefits” College Credits Emphasized in “high stakes” admissions in top-ranked universities Strong indicator of college performance Downfalls: Gender, subject of test, and type of high school attended influence exam score Whites: 64%African American: 33%Latina/o: 50% California sued for not providing sufficient access to AP courses in all schools As a result of lawsuit (Daniel v. State of California, 1999), CA invested millions of dollars to expand AP programs Policy Question Has the expansion of AP programs in inner-city schools impacted access to AP Programs and passing rates of AP exams for inner-city schools when compared to non-inner-city schools?

Policy Conclusion/Recommendation The maps suggest a discrepancy in the access to and quality of AP Programs based on the demographics surrounding the school and the location of the school. Given the API scores of elementary & middle schools surrounding the high schools, addressing the inequities among AP Programs should begin prior to high school coursework. Need for longitudinal research depicting changes in access to & quality of AP Programs for inner-city students and Students of Color before/after the implementation of California Funding. Schools need to report more accurate AP data, such as the number of AP courses actually being taught each year, not just those approved as AP by the UC system.

Metadata & Models

Skills  Inset Map (slide 1,2,11,12)  Point Graduated Symbols (slide 11)  Graduated Symbols  Attribute Sub-Selection (slide 12)  Measurement/Buffer (slide 12)  Geo-Coding (slide 3)  Charts/Images (slide 3, 5-10)  Original Data (slide 4-12)  Hillshade (slide 4)

Sources Burdman, P. (2000). Extra Credit, Extra Criticism. Black Issues, Diverse Education. VanSciver, James H.(2006) Closing the Diversity Gap in Advanced Placement Course Enrollment. Multicultural Perspectives, 8: 3, 56 — 58 Geiser, S., & Santelices, V. (2004). The Role of Advanced Placement and Honors Courses in College Admissions. Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley. Klopfenstein, K. (2003). Advanced Placement: Do Minorities have Equal Opportunity. Economics of Education Review 23, 115–131 ESRI USGS Microsoft Research Maps US Census Data Ed-Data DataQuest California Department of Education