<p> The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to determine if mandatory Advanced Placement courses improve reading comprehension scores for students; especially Hispanic students. Not only is a minority student achievement gap prevalent in American education, but also a minority opportunity gap is present for students in Advanced Placement courses. The literature review detailed educational reform in the United States to include the rise and expansion of the Advanced Placement Program via the College Board. The benefits and drawbacks of Advanced Placement were emphasized as well as obstacles minority students face in participating in advanced courses. The results from the archival student reading achievement on the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program between sophomore students in two rural, Colorado high schools exposed two certainties; the achievement gap remains and mandatory Advanced Placement participation does not positively affect reading achievement. In the 2013 and 2014 school years, uncommon p-values were identified rejecting the null hypothesis. The ANOVA test for interaction produced a p-value of .438 pointing to an uncommon result, and the t-test produced p-values of 1.00 and .996 which are higher than the alpha of .05, and thus the null was rejected. There is no significant effect between Advanced Placement participation and increased reading achievement scores. Furthermore, this study confirmed the school that did not mandate Advanced Placement courses outperformed the mandatory Advanced Placement school on the state reading examination. More research on this topic is necessary. Longitudinal studies of these student populations may determine if the results may be generalized to larger populations. Among the most significant findings from this study are the importance of teacher preparation and leadership in identifying, recruiting, and enrolling minority students in to Advanced Placement and honors programs with greater consistency. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10155718 |
| Date | 08 November 2016 |
| Creators | Lowe, Jeremy R. |
| Publisher | University of Phoenix |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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