Post on 27-Dec-2015
The Journey
Susan A. WalkerDoctoral Student
University of Northern ColoradoAdvanced Placement Initiative Grant Coordinator
Greeley-Evans District 6
Overview
Introductions/Set Research Projects
Barriers to Advanced Placement Accelerated Mathematics Program P2P
Dissertation
Barriers to Advanced Placement
Purpose of Research
The purpose of this investigation was to gain a deeper understanding of Latino student and parent perceptions about the factors that inhibit or encourage access to Advanced Placement coursework at the high school level.
Barriers to Advanced Placement
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Sch o o l En r o llm e n t
L atin o
Cau cas ian
Oth e r
Barriers to Advanced Placement
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20
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AP Co u r s e En r o llm e n t
L atin o
Cau cas ian
Oth e r
Barriers to Advanced Placement
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10%
20%
30%
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70%
Sch o o l En r o llm e n t
L atin o
Cau cas ian
Oth e r
0
20
40
60
80
100
AP Co u r s e En r o llm e n t
L atin o
Cau cas ian
Oth e r
Barriers to Advanced Placement
Research Participants
Eligibility of Participants
1) Enrolled entire high school career
2) Current Junior or Senior with a Latino
surname
3) C or better in required coursework Selection Process
Barriers to Advanced Placement
Key Points From Parents
Communication AP Program Costs College Access and Costs Parental Support and Expectations
Barriers to Advanced Placement
Parent Participant
“America is a beautiful place to live and it gives the parents opportunities like jobs to work, but it also gives their children opportunities in school… they should be focusing on their children and not just their jobs”.
Barriers to Advanced Placement
Key Points from Students
Peer Pressure and Acceptance Loss of Hope and Motivation The Ethnic Check Box
Barriers to Advanced Placement
Summary of Findings
Family and peer factors A sense of isolation A lack of encouragement and support both in
and out of school Student perceptions about not comparing well in
advanced course work Perceptions about being undervalued as a
minority
Barriers to Advanced Placement
Humbling Truth
It may not be so much what we are doing as educators as what we are not doing as human beings that effects the greater impact on Latino student under-representation in Advanced Placement coursework.
Barriers to Advanced Placement
Findings
Build communication Create community Forge positive peer relations Engage student success
achievement through relevant activity
Barriers to Advanced Placement
Recommendations
Parent to Parent Conferences Parent Language Classes Personal Parent Contacts Early Access Multi-Cultural Peer Role Plays Multi-Cultural peer to Peer Recruitment
Barriers to Advanced Placement
Parent Participant
“If we are the country that we profess to be, I think that we’ve got to eradicate even the smallest idea of unfairness.”
Accelerated Mathematics Program
Mathematics Course Sequence
Algebra I 9th Grade Pre Algebra
Geometry 10th Grade Informal Geometry
Algebra II 11th Grade Intermediate Algebra
Trig/Pre Calculus 12th Grade AP Calculus and AP Statistics
Accelerated Mathematics Program
Segregated Classes
Homogenous student groupings
70% of the Latino students were below grade level and placed into the lowest classes
Accelerated Mathematics Program
Making Change
Research in 2006 Geometry: Gateway class Spring 2006
Principal Approval Classroom Visits to promote self selection Parent Meetings to Promote the Program Registration
Accelerated Mathematics Program
New Pathway
Algebra I 9th Grade Accelerated Geometry Summer School Trig/Algebra II/Pre Calculus 10th Grade AP Calculus / AP Statistics 11th Grade Options to attend college at no cost to students
during their senior year
Accelerated Mathematics Program
AcceleratedSummer School
2007 – 2008 2008 – 2009
Caucasian 50% 67%
Latino 50% 33% (50%)
Total Enrollment 16 24 (34)
Accelerated Mathematics ProgramEnrollment Outcome
Advanced Placement Calculus
Year 2007 – 2008 2008 – 2009
Caucasian 17 42
Latino 1 18
Total Enrollment 18 60
Accelerated Mathematics Program
Implications
Reduced Barriers Human Empowerment Informed Choices Improved Self Esteem Increased Confidence Increased Social Interest
Accelerated Mathematics Program
Educational Impact
Increased Latino proportions in all other advanced core classes
Increased Latino proportions in clubs
Staff awareness Parent Engagement
Parent to Parent Conferences
Step 1: Select a Topic Step 2: Student Selection Step 3: Train Teachers Step 4: Develop Questions Step 5: Conduct Research Step 6: Findings Step 7: Process with Stakeholders
Parent to Parent Conferences
1. Latino students feel some teachers at the school do not care about them.“Teachers look down on us because of how we look and dress.”“School is a way to better and change your life but teachers hardly help us.”“Teachers judge Latinos. If you do one thing wrong teachers think you have quit.”“I wonder what they would so if it were their kids.”
Recommendation: Discuss the perception with faculty and allow them the opportunity to discover and develop solutions.
Parent to Parent Conferences
1. Latino parents feel that some teachers at the high school do not care about their children.“When kids aren’t doing anything and the teachers know it, then the teachers aren’t doing anything either; I give the teachers an F too.”“The kids who need help, don’t get help; only the smart kids get the help.”“When teachers don’t care then kids won’t care.”“The teachers and the school need to care about the kids and know them as individuals.”
Recommendation: Discuss the perception with faculty and allow them the opportunity to discover and develop solutions.
“Black parents who, during the 1950’s were regularly denounced in school circles for their alleged nonconcern with education, were in the 1960’s repeatedly criticized for their interference in the form of picket lines and mass delegations.”
-Meyer Weinberg (1991)
“Conservatives who urge return to former standards and practices and
radicals who criticize present conditions agree at least in one point: neither party is satisfied with the way
that things are.”
John Dewey: The Way Out of Educational Confusion, 1931