A narrative inquiry: Black girls’ intersectional experiences in advanced placement courses
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Abstract
For over six decades, the Advanced Placement program has offered colleges and universities an effective and dependable rigorous curriculum and assessment for senior high school students. During this time, the program has grown from 104 to over 21,000 participating public high schools across the country that offer students the opportunity to enroll and participate in rigorous college preparation courses (The College Board, 2016). Although Advanced Placement has experienced exponential growth over the years, there remains a dearth of knowledge about the Black girls’ experiences in Advanced Placement, especially challenges related to their intersecting identities of race, gender, and class. This study utilized Intersectionality, as a theoretical framework, and a Narrative Inquiry qualitative methodology. Both allowed me to explore of the experiences of Black girls in Advanced Placement with race, gender, and class, the meanings they assign to the experiences, and understand how these social identities overlap. This study’s findings highlighted that the study participants had experiential and non-experiential similarities. Their reasoning for selecting, enrolling, and participating in Advanced Placement differed, along with their selected path to earn college credit. The girls preferred classes with more diversity or diverse teachers and students. Their narratives revealed that race and gender played a role in their Advanced Placement experiences. The study conclusions were that the Black girls experienced intersectional microaggressions and exhibited self-determination. Additionally, the participants had support systems that impacted their ability to select, enroll, and participate in Advanced Placement, which seemed to aid them in being academically successful. By displaying the Black girls’ experiential realities, their experiences inform and help improve Advanced Placement programming and participation.