I feel like an AP student that doesn’t belong: Nontraditional Students of Color Discuss Academic Identity, Positionality, and Support in the Figured World of AP United States History

The research supporting the importance of high school programming in the entrance and persistence of students into higher education is dense and varied with several studies directly noting the importance of College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) courses specifically in the college admissions process. With typically smaller class sizes, more experienced teachers, and students with stronger academic backgrounds, those taking AP courses benefit from a perceived and actual AP advantage in both high school and subsequent higher education endeavors. Traditionally, however, there has been a significant gap within the make-up of students who enroll and succeed in AP courses. Despite the recognition of the import of AP coursework to future academic effort and dedicated efforts by educational and government entities to increase the number of students entering the AP program, Black and Latinx students remain significantly less likely to enroll in AP classes, take fewer associated national AP exams, and score lower on said exams than their White and Asian peers. A problem connected to students of color, the various issues associated with race and ethnicity have been identified as primary influences in the academic achievement gaps between Black and Latinx students and their White peers. Much research exists to support the reasons why students of color are failing to enroll in AP courses at the same rate as their White and Asian peers; less so, however, exists that discusses these students’ experiences while enrolled in AP class, thus limiting our understanding of the elements that interact to hinder their engagement and achievement in class and in the subsequent national AP exam. Using a theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory and Figured Worlds from Holland et al, this study presents the cases of five Latinx and Afro-Latinx students navigating the particularly complex world of Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH). The research focused on how their experiences shaped their academic identity, how they were positioned and positioned themselves within the class as a result of their academic identity, and how their interactions with their teacher, their traditional and nontraditional peers, and the curriculum influenced their engagement and achievement within the class.