Differences in Completion Rates for Dual Credit, Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate, and Associate Degree as a Function of Ethnicity/Race and Economic Status

Purpose

The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the degree to which ethnicity/race and economic status were related to the completion rates for dual-credit courses, the met criterion rates for Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate, and the completion rates for Associate degrees for the 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 school years. In the first study, the purpose was to determine the completion rates for students who completed at least three hours of a dual-credit in English Language Arts or mathematics, or completed at least nine or more hours of dual-credit course work as a function of their ethnicity/race and economic status. In the second study, the purpose was to determine the met criterion rates for students who took Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate examinations as a function of their ethnicity/race and economic status. In the third study, the purpose was to determine the completion rates for students who completed an Associate degree as a function of their ethnicity/race and economic status. The final purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the extent to which trends were present in each of the three articles.

Method

For this study, a non-experimental causal-comparative design was used. Archival data were acquired from the Texas Education Agency for the 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 school years.

Findings

Black students had the lowest percentages of students who had completed dual-credit courses and met criterion on Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate examinations for the 2016-2017 through the 2019-2020 school years. Asian students had the highest percentages of students who met criterion on Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate examinations across all four years. The order of highest percentages to lowest percentages of students who completed an Associate degree were Hispanic, Asian, Black, and White students for all four years. Further, the number of students earning an Associate degree were very low when compared to overall high school student enrollment in the State of Texas. All students had higher percentages of students who had completed dual-credit courses, met criterion on Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate examinations, and completed an Associate degree than their peers who were economically disadvantaged across all four years.