College Acceleration for All? Mapping Racial Gaps in Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment Participation

This article documents the patterns of White-Black and White-Hispanic enrollment gaps in Advanced Placement (AP) and Dual Enrollment (DE) programs across thousands of school districts in the United States by merging several data sources. We show that the vast majority of districts have racial enrollment gaps in both programs, with wider gaps in AP than DE. Results from fractional regression models indicate that geographic variations in these gaps can be explained by both local and state factors. We also find that district-level resources and state policies that provide greater access to AP and DE are also associated with wider racial enrollment gaps, implying that greater resources may engender racial disparity without adequate efforts to provide equitable access and support for minority students.

Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps

Only half of SAT-takers retake the exam, with even lower retake rates among low-income students and underrepresented minority (URM) students. We exploit discontinuous jumps in retake probabilities at multiples of 100, driven by left-digit bias, to estimate retaking’s causal effects. Retaking substantially improves SAT scores and increases four-year college enrollment rates, particularly for low-income and URM students. Eliminating disparities in retake rates could close up to 10 percent of the income-based gap and up to 7 percent of the race-based gap in four-year college enrollment rates of high school graduates. (JEL I21, I23, I24, J15)

Students with Disabilities in Urban Massachusetts Charter Schools: Access to Regular Classrooms

<p>This paper examines the access of students with disabilities to regular classrooms in charter and traditional schools in cities across Massachusetts. Public school enrollment and placement data are examined for 2003-07; overall, access to regular classrooms showed high variability by city. Urban charter schools educated significantly lower percentages of students with disabilities in substantially separate classrooms (0-5.7%), compared to urban traditional schools (15.0%-45.8%); however, charter schools enrolled significantly fewer students who are not easily included in regular classes. Both charter and traditional schools have increased regular classroom access considerably from 2003-2007. Discussion focuses on the challenges of interpreting variability in regular classroom access, given major enrollment gaps of students with disabilities between charter and traditional schools. Future policy and regulatory work should emphasize improving charter school access among students with disabilities.</p>