Five Clarke Central High School minority students stand holding statistics about minority students in AP classes. Minorities make up almost 77 percent of the total school population yet there is a low percentage of each ethnicity enrolled in at least one AP. “(I noticed a lack of minorities) all the time. Usually, I’m one of the only Hispanics in the class or most of the class is white people (with) probably just one or two Black people or one or two Hispanics,” CCHS junior Marilen Rodriguez said. Photo by Zoe Peterson

Although nearly 77 percent of Clarke Central High School’s population is made up of minorities, White students comprise the majority of enrollees in AP classes.

According to the College Board, classes labeled as Advanced Placement courses give high school students the opportunity to take a college-level class to gain both high school and college credits simultaneously. Clarke Central High School offers a total of 16 AP courses to students.

As defined by prepscholar, an online test prepa­ration site, the AP program is run by the College Board — makers of the SAT — and allows students to take courses that can earn them college credit.

“(The curriculum) is closer to what you would get in college, the course level and the rigor,” CCHS senior William Downs said. “Of course if you pass the AP exam you can get credit for both classes. It’s just more difficult, so you prepare yourself for college.”

According to the University of Georgia Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Katie Severens, having AP courses on their transcript will give students a better chance at being accepted into competitive colleges.

“We offer admission to the most competitive ap­plicants each year based on our space availability,” Severens said. “AP and (International Baccalaureate) classes are nationally and internationally standard­ized curricula that well prepare a student for an academically rigorous college environment. To be most competitive in our process, students should challenge themselves by pursuing the most rigorous courses available.”

Students are not required to take an AP to gradu­ate, but for CCHS junior Marilen Rodriguez, taking AP classes feels like a necessity for her academic career.

“The teacher teaches you but is not on top of you. You have to worry about yourself and getting everything done on your own,” Rodriguez said. “I want to go to college so I want that experience so I have to take (AP classes). It’s not because I want to, but it’s something that I have to do.”

CCHS junior Aniya Willis feels taking AP classes have pushed her academically.

“What I like about the AP classes is that it kinda pushes you to be out of your comfort zone,” Willis said. “I feel like it gets you prepared for college, because one of the things I’ve learned from my AP Classes is that you really have to study on your own.”

While there are advantages for college admission and a rigorous environment, there is a dispropor­tionate representation from the CCHS minority students, which make up nearly 77 percent of the total school population, which is 1584 students, according to the CCHS 2017-2018 Enrollment Summary report generated on May 3.

Black students makeup over half of the total population at Clarke Central High School but are not proportionally represented in Advanced Placement courses. Only 15.3 percent of the 1,818 Black students are enrolled in at least one AP. “In my AP Government class, there’s a lot of White kids in there. It’s kind of hard because there’s a few black students in there but they don’t really participate,” CCHS sophomore Alyssia Jonas said.
 
 
 

Disproportionality

According to 2016-2016 District Data, provided by Clarke County School District Charter System Director James Barlament on April 12, 60 percent of White CCSD students take at least one AP course, compared to 15 percent for Black students and 30 percent for Hispanic students. Rodriguez has taken four AP classes and has noticed over time that she stuck out in every single course she took.

“(I noticed a lack of minorities) all the time. Usually, I’m one of the only Hispanics in the class or most of the class is White people (with) prob­ably just one or two Black people or one or two Hispanics,” Rodriguez said. “I was used to interacting with people like me, Hispanic, (in my advanced classes). Then when I went to my AP classes I really didn’t talk to anybody else. I was in my own little bubble. That’s how I felt.”

Downs has also noticed the disproportionate representation, and has gotten used to not seeing other Black or biracial students in his AP classes.

“It’s kind of been like that for a while. The more advanced classes have less minorities,” Downs said. “I feel like my whole life I’ve been with those people who are in those classes so it hasn’t been like I was separated (from them).”

CCHS sophomore Sherlyn Alvarez-Lopez steered away from the AP path after her experience in AP Government during her freshman year.

“I got out of (AP Government) because I felt really uncomfort­able. I would sit by myself in the back of the room and I was the only Hispanic in that class,” Lopez said. “Everyone else was White and I had no friends so it was weird and awkward. So, I just decided to go into advanced.”

According to Rodriguez, in her experience, the few minority students that are enrolled in APs, including herself, do not actively engage.

“Something that I’ve noticed is that a lot of mi­norities don’t speak out during group conversations or when (the teacher) asks a question or something like that. Most of the hands that go up are White people and not Latinos or Blacks,” Rodriguez said. “I guess I could fix that by speaking up as well. It’s not that I don’t feel comfortable in that environ­ment, but it’s just something that I’m not used to.”

Causes and effects

For many CCSD students, they are tested in elementary school to be eligible for gifted services through the Spectrum program. As a result, they begin an academic track of advanced coursework Downs says, which often limits those not labeled as gifted.

“When I was in elementary school they separated (me) into the Spectrum program and my best friend was Black, but when we got separated I never saw him again, so I didn’t ever speak to him again,” Downs said. “(Minority students have) grown up with their friends. They live with their friends in this circle of people who don’t try as hard as they could because if you were to try harder than your friends, then you’re not going to be in classes with them anymore, so you won’t be able to talk to them and you’ll be with all these brand new people you’ve never seen before.”

Lopez was also labeled as gifted and placed into the Spectrum program and has observed how it has affected other students.

“I feel like it discourages them a lot because they’re like, ‘Oh, I can’t be in the same class as you because you’re gifted and I’m not,’ and I just feel like it puts this kind of barrier on who your friends are,” Lopez said. “Children just kind of feel bad. They’re like, ‘Oh, well I’m not gifted so I guess that makes me stupid,’ just because (gifted kids) have a label that they don’t and it shouldn’t be like that.”

CCHS math department teacher and AP Coor­dinator Joy Sapp teaches AP Calculus. According to Sapp, academic tracking affects whether or not students can take an AP math.

“If you don’t have the prerequisite, it’s hard to go to the next level,” Sapp said. “But for social stud­ies and science, you can take them. I don’t know why (students don’t).”

According to Rodriguez, another reason minori­ties would decide not to take AP’s is that students also overestimate how difficult AP classes are going to be and discourage themselves from taking them based on how they think they’ll perform.

“I think that many of Latinos and other races don’t take those classes because AP classes are identified as hard and it’s not like that. It’s the same thing. (Work in AP classes is) not hard but it’s a lot more challenging compared to on-level,” Rodriguez said.

Downs believes that when students leave their comfort zone and enroll in an AP class, the contrast­ing environment causes them to be intimidated and lose confidence in a group of people.

“If you’ve never been in the class, you might feel like you’re not welcome, (that) you’re not supposed to be in this group, but you are. Some people might feel like that so they don’t speak out as much,” Downs said.

Willis feels fear and intimidation can also be a factor in lack of minority student enrollment in AP classes.

“Maybe they’re afraid, because you know you look around you do see (White students) domi­nating and like being top of the class and stuff, and it’s not really minority (students), and maybe they feel like, ‘Oh, you know, White (students) can have that I’ll just stay over here, I’m dominating in my advanced classes,’ but I feel like that shouldn’t hold (minorities) back, because if they can do it then I can do it, too, you know,” Willis said.

CCHS school counselor Heidi Nibbelink believes there are barriers keeping minority students from enrolling in AP classes. According to Nibbelink, minority students aren’t likely to start enrolling in APs on their own without a push from an outside source.

“They may not get the same push at home that other kids might get. It can be uncomfortable to be the only person that looks like you or is from your background in a group of people and it helps to have a friend,” Nibbelink said. “You have to see yourself as a bit of a pioneer. I think some­times you have to put your own welfare maybe ahead of what’s comfortable in the moment and that’s hard. That’s hard for anybody.”

Solutions

CCHS Principal Marie Yuran is aware of the issue of representation and actively seeks opportunities to improve minority representation in AP classes at CCHS.

“I know that we, as a school, have looked at that data over time and have tried to take steps to encourage students of all diversity, ethnic backgrounds, to participate. We’ve really targeted gifted minorities,” Yuran said. “It begins with conversations and communication. I think we have some things in place to facilitate those con­versations. For those folks who have taken any kind of rigorous course, whether it’s AP or if you’re in a school that has an IB Diploma Track or those kinds of things, you find that you build a social network in order to support yourself to get through those rigorous classes.”

To help solve the issue, during the 2014-15 school year Nibbelink and former CCHS IB Coor­dinator Larissa Jean co-founded Gifted Minorities Achieving, a program targeted towards academically gifted minorities who would be eligible for AP classes.

“We decided to take a look at the factors that might be contributing to that (disportionality) and I think one of the most important things we did was hold focus groups with students so we could hear from students themselves what some of the barriers were to even taking AP courses and then how it felt for students of color to be in an AP course,” Nibbelink said. “From that information we then designed the program and we got students who were interested to be part of it.”

During its first three years, GMA met regularly during Glad Time — the school’s enrichment/reme­diation period on Wednesdays. However, Glad Time was replaced by Advisement this year, which has had an impact on the program Nibbelink says.

“In terms of our GMA initiative that we started with Ms. Jean, that has not grown out the way that I think it would need to grow out in order to really affect large scale change at Clarke Central,” Nibbe­link said. “We’ve sort of ended up with this current group of 11th graders that are really our core group and we don’t have other cohorts coming up behind them, but I think that (GMA) is the model that could work. You identify your gifted or potential kids that you think could do well in an AP class in eighth grade and then get them started on that pathway in high school and just keep building it out.”

Willis is a member of GMA and believes the pro­gram has been instrumental for its members.

“It kinda opens a door for minorities,” Willis said. “(GMA) shines light on what we’re ca­pable of doing and becoming, and I feel like that’s why it’s such a good thing. These good role models (are able) to show, ‘Hey, I’m a minority, but I made it.’ I wouldn’t say make us feel spe­cial, but (it makes us feel like) we have potential to be something.”

CCHS 2017 alumna Charis Stafford, who attend­ed Georgia Southern University-Armstrong Campus this year, now regrets not having the experience of a taking rigorous course and believes minorities should take the opportunity to take AP classes.

“My first experience of being in (an AP class), I wasn’t comfortable because there was just not a lot of peo­ple from my background in there. It just made me feel a little out of place and so my stance was ‘No. I don’t like it. I don’t want to stay in there,’” Stafford said. “Thinking about it now, at the start of my first year of college, I wish I would have stayed in there because I feel like it would have prepared me.”

Willis also believes AP classes have been bene­ficial for her academically, and encourages other minority students to consider taking them.

“I just wish more minorities would take AP classes, because I understand. I felt (weird) my freshman year because I was one of the only black kids. But, I enjoy being in AP classes because you’re around a group of people who think like you, and you guys have the same goals at times,” Willis said. “It’s just being in that environ­ment — I can’t even explain it. You just won’t find that in a regular class.”

More from Mackenzie Caudill