Demographics of Upper Level Classes
“What are demographics in upper level classes? How do they compare with similar districts?”
Racial breakup of AP and IB junior classes at Shaker
Jed asked via Twitter, “What are demographics in upper level classes? How do they compare with similar districts?”
Jed, in the 2014-2015 school year, 30 percent of tenth graders at the high school enrolled in an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate class. Twelve of them were African-American. That’s nine percent of the 138 tenth graders who enrolled and five percent of the 245 African-American students in tenth grade who could have enrolled.
More than three out of every four students who enrolled were white. Nearly two-thirds of all white tenth graders enrolled in an upper-level course. One Hispanic student enrolled.
Socioeconomic status was another indicator of who did and did not enroll. There were 179 students with an economic disadvantage in that tenth grade class. Nine of them enrolled in an AP or IB course.
This gap isn’t rare. At Cleveland Heights’ High School, only 13 percent of students at the school are enrolled in AP courses. Seven percent of African-American students are enrolled, and 43 percent of white students are enrolled. No Hispanics are enrolled.
Other useful resources include the Ohio Department of Education’s Advanced Reports website or the privately hosted education-research database, StartClass.
