Advanced Placement Gatekeeping and Racialized Tracking

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read More Add to Saved list
  • Author(s): Hirschl, Noah (ORCID Hirschl, Noah (ORCID 0000-0003-0723-0733); Smith, Christian Michael (ORCID Smith, Christian Michael (ORCID 0000-0002-8024-3832)
  • Language:
    English
  • Source:
    Sociology of Education. Jul 2023 96(3):190-210.
  • Publication Date:
    2023
  • Document Type:
    Journal Articles
    Reports - Research
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://sagepub.com
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      21
    • Sponsoring Agency:
      Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
    • Contract Number:
      R305B150003
      R372A150031
    • Education Level:
      Higher Education
      Postsecondary Education
    • Subject Terms:
      Advanced Placement; Track System (Education); Racism; Enrollment; Policy; Student Participation; Performance; Selection Criteria; Barriers; Advanced Courses; Difficulty Level; Racial Factors; Low Achievement; Selective Admission; College Attendance; Minority Group Students; Equal Education
    • Subject Terms:
      Wisconsin
    • Accession Number:
      10.1177/00380407231161334
    • ISSN:
      0038-0407
      1939-8573
    • Abstract:
      Racialized tracking is central to sociological explanations for racially stratified educational outcomes. However, school officials' decision-making is of debated importance for explaining racialized tracking. We contribute to this literature by examining the effects of schools' enrollment policies for Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Using a unique combination of school survey data and administrative data from Wisconsin, we examine what happens to racial inequality in AP participation when school officials enforce performance-based selection criteria, which we call "course gatekeeping." We find that course gatekeeping has racially disproportionate effects. Although racialized differences in prior achievement partially explain the especially large negative effects among students of color, course gatekeeping produces Black-white and Hispanic-white disparities in participation even among students with similar, relatively low prior achievement. We further find that course gatekeeping has longer-run effects, particularly discouraging Black and Asian or Pacific Islander students from attending highly selective four-year colleges.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • IES Funded:
      Yes
    • Publication Date:
      2023
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1383882