Students of color and those from low-income families lag behind their peers in enrolling in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses, even if they show the academic promise to succeed, according to a new report from the Education Trust.
The study by the Washington-based group finds that middle- and high-income students at schools with AP classes are three times as likely to enroll in such courses as low-income students. Black and American Indian students participate at about half the rate of the national average, while about 9 percent of Hispanic students sign up.
The percentage of white students who enroll in IB programs, at 6.7 percent, is more than three times that of black students (2.1 percent).
The authors say such gaps translate to more than 640,000 low-income students and students of color “missing” each year from AP and IB participation.
