Four of the five participants held various types of misconceptions about
Advanced Placement courses and the gifted program. When asked to describe what type of students took AP classes, James answered, “The really smart kids.” He also mentioned that there was great deal of homework and the grading scale was different for AP
students then for regular education classes. All five of the participants shared that they had few or no Black friends who were taking AP classes, intimating that AP classes were not for Black students.
Of the five students, three had been tested for the gifted program while in
elementary school. However, only Jamal made it into the program. All five participants have taken one or more Honors or Accelerated class while in high school. Jamal was the only participant who had taken any AP classes.
The most prolific misconception about AP courses was there wasn’t much difference between AP classes and Honors and Accelerated courses. Andrea stated that she often wondered what it was they did in AP classes that differed from her Accelerated and Honors classes.
Andrea: That’s what I always wondered, because when I, when I can really
sit here and say, like, me any friends, we check our grades every day in computer apps, and she shows me her grades; I show her my grades. To me, I just feel like the work is just more in-depth. Like, there no other way to put it. Like, I don’t feel like they get more.
Researcher: When you look at what your friends are doing in AP classes, and
what you’re doing, do you see – are they doing a lot of busy work, or—what are the novels? The novels for example?
Andrea: Um, we actually did a paper similar to theirs. That’s why it kind of confuses me when they throw the title of AP on top, like on top of it. It’s like Honors work combined with AP work. So, to me, they can go hand-to-hand also. It’s just, your statement, like taking one step more.
Sean believed that taking AP classes would not have made a difference in graduating from high school.
Researcher: When do you start getting to choose your… the AP classes? Sean: In your, um, ending of sophomore year, so you can choose in your,
in your junior and senior year.
Researcher: Do you have to have a teacher recommendation? Sean: Yes. You have to have an interview with them.
Researcher: Okay, and did you go through that process? Sean: I did not.
Researcher: How come?
Sean: Because I really… I didn’t really think it would make a difference,
because, . . um…
Researcher: You didn’t think the AP classes would make a difference? Sean: with me graduating.
Researcher: Okay. So your goal was to just get graduated? Sean: Yes.
Researcher: All right. But now if a teacher had recommended you, do you think
that you probably would’ve considered it?
Sean: I would have.
James explained that his reasoning for not choosing AP classes were related to his sister’s input. James’ older sister had taken AP classes while in high school and was in her final year in college. She did not see much difference in the AP classes and her Honors and Accelerated classes.
Researcher: Now when she and you talk about school, I’m sure y’all talk about
school, has she talked to you about taking any AP classes?
James: Yes ma’am.
Researcher: And what does she have to say? I’m curious.
James: Well, she, she said she’s always known me to be smart— Researcher: Mm-hm.
James: --in school. And that, that it’s really not that big of an issue for the classes I’m taking now.
Researcher: Oh, she’s saying that they’re, they’re not that different? James: Yes, ma’am.
Researcher: Um, is, did that have anything to do with why you didn’t – chose
not to take-
James: Yes, ma’am.
Researcher: So, in other words, what you’re saying is that she’s doing okay—
did she take Advanced Placement classes when she was in high school?
James: Yes, Ma’am.
Researcher: Oh, she did. Okay. And so, from her experience, she’s saying
not much different? That they’re about the same as the advance classes, or they’re not much harder? Or the—
James: Like, she said, when she said it, she just, she seems like she knew how smart I was, and she knew it was going to be some easy work. That I could be able – I would’ve been able to do- - with no
problem.
For James, his sister’s experiences carried a lot of weight in his considering taking AP classes. Although AP classes are thought to be more rigorous and carry a higher point value in a student’s overall GPA, James’ sister did not see any tangible benefits for herself. She felt that she would have been just as prepared for college if she had not taken any AP classes. She also informed James that there wasn’t much difference between the AP classes and the Honors and Accelerated classes.
Lorenzo who had only taken regular education classes in his freshman and sophomore year explained that at the end of his freshman year, he wanted to move up to the Honors and Accelerated classes in his sophomore year but was uneasy as he would have to pass a test in order to qualify.
Lorenzo: I felt put-down; I felt that I, I felt like that I know I could do it if I try and push hard. But I felt disappointed that she didn’t think that I could do it.
As a result of not being recommended for Honors or Accelerated classes for his ninth grade year, Lorenzo missed out taking Accelerated Math; a class that includes a full year of ninth grade math along with half a year of tenth grade math.
Lorenzo: Well, in certain classes like math, if you don’t start off accelerated
in the first, beginning, it’s hard to get into math… um, accelerated class, because like, if you take ‘cause the first year you take Math I and Math II. So the next year they’ll take a different, they’ll take a
different, different course. So, like, it’s hard, it’s very hard to get in once you’re already started.
Researcher: That’s what I’ve heard. Yup.
Lorenzo: It was just kind of hard. But I, I like, I love math, and I always kept an A average in math. I had a B maybe once or twice. I never got too low in math though.
Researcher: So were you able to get into the accelerated math program in the
10th grade?
Lorenzo: No, not in math.
Jamal, the only participant who has taken any AP classes also believes that there is no significant difference in the Honors/Accelerated classes and AP classes.
Researcher: When you are looking at your advanced literature class that you’re
taking right now, and you talk to, maybe, the kids that are taking the AP class.. and you said that your teacher is the same teacher that’s teaching both class. Do you think the course work… do you hear anything about how the coursework is different or more rigorous?
Jamal: Um, the students that I’ve talked to, they’ve said it’s the same
work. They’re like, “If you can do honors, you can do AP. The only difference is, like, for the entire year, we have maybe ten books that we have to read and write essay about. They have 15 for example.
Although Jamal wanted to take the AP literature class he is referring to, he was uncertain if he would be successful because his mother pointed out to him that literature was his least favorite subject and he was a huge procrastinator. After much deliberation over the summer, Jamal and his mother went to the school before school began to get his schedule changed from Accelerated literature to AP literature. He was told it could not be done because he had waited too long.
Researcher: Okay. Can you tell me about that?
Jamal: Um, not because of the people, not because I wasn’t comfortable
with the other students, but because I wasn’t comfortable with my own abilities in Language Arts. Last year, I was able to maintain a high A in all of the – I meant each nine weeks.
Researcher: Mm-hm.
Jamal: Each semester. But something just—actually, I wanted to take it, but my mom didn’t think that it would be a good idea because, out of all my courses, Language Arts has always been the – my least favorite. I mean, I’m able to keep an A in it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
Researcher: Why do you have trouble with literature, or Language Arts? Is it
because you just, it’s just not interesting to you, or –
Jamal: It’s not really interesting, and also, I don’t do well with
timeframes. I can’t – well, I can, it’s just, I don’t know. And not just with school, like, it’s tough for me to write an essay in a time period. But it’s also tough for me –like, outside of school, if you give a time limit on something, I’m going to push it, I’m going to be the—
Researcher: Are you a procrastinator?
Jamal: Big time. Big time. And, um, in all my classes, I’m the last one to finish tests.
Researcher: Now, because you didn’t choose the AP Literature in 11th grade, can you pick it up in January when, when you go back after Christmas break, or does that only start once a year, at the beginning of each year?
Jamal: It starts once a year, at the beginning of each year. And like, three weeks before school, after talking with my mom for the entire summer, I was telling her I could handle it, I should do it. It will help me in the long run.
Researcher: Right.
Jamal: She was like, “Okay. If you think you can do, then go for it.” Researcher: Okay.
Jamal: We went to the um, school –
Researcher: Yeah…
Jamal: --and they wouldn’t let me. They were like, “It’s too late.”
Jamal: So a whole year in Honors instead of AP is wasted because they couldn’t…because of a formality.
Researcher: Now, the person that you talked to about that, was it the guidance
counselor?
Jamal: I talked with the principal of curriculum and the guidance counselor for 10th and 11th grade.
Researcher: And they just flat-out said no?
Jamal: I talked to the lady who teaches the course also… who is also…she
teaches Honors, which I’m in now. And she teaches the AP.
Researcher: And has she… and she, she said it just wasn’t a possibility? Were
they just overrun with students?
Jamal: Actually, the Honors class has, like, 35 kids in it. And the AP has 14.
Researcher: Oh!
Jamal: So, yeah. The Honors class that I’m in now is overflowing. Um, kids are sitting in chairs, because there’s not enough desks. But they couldn’t let me go to the AP class because I didn’t, I didn’t sign up in time.
Jamal’s frustration when explaining why he was not allowed to register for AP literature was palpable and understandable. Like many of his gifted peers, Jamal was aware acutely of how power in the schools is used to circumvent his success. He had “grown critical” (Ford, 2011) of the institution that is purportedly designed to help him. When pressed further to describe the differences he and his friends have observed in
comparing AP Literature and the Honors Literature class Jamal was taking, Jamal conceded that the students in the AP class are afforded more ownership in their learning.
Jamal: So they just have more books. And they said that they have more say – so, they have more of a voice in the class. Like, she’ll ask them, “Okay, do you think - - do y’all think that y’all will be ready for a vocab. test Tuesday, or should we push it till Thursday?” They can choose when they want to test. Whereas she treats us like a high school class, where she’s like - - well, she tells us everything, and we sit there and listen. We don’t choose our test dates. We don’t choose what our homework should be.
The misconception that there isn’t any difference between Honors/Accelerated and AP classes plays a significant role in the minds of many eligible students when deciding their coursework in high school. Andrea, Sean, and James were significantly influenced by their peers and family member’s viewpoint concerning AP classes.
Lorenzo had to fight to move from regular education classes into Honors and Accelerated classes in his Grade 10 year commented that while in the Accelerated Government class, his class and the regular education Government students received the same study guide and same test. Jamal, the only participant who had taken AP classes reported that he did not see any significant difference between his Grade 11 Honors Literature class and the AP Literature class in which he wanted to enroll.
Although the students expressed the belief that there may not be any significant difference between AP and Honors, Accelerated, and Advanced classes, they were savvy enough to discern the advantages of the AP classes to their future educational pursuits. Several of them during the course of our interview, expressed regret that they did not pursue AP classes and would have done things differently.