Wally Barnes

College-Readiness Rates in Texas A Statewide, Multiyear Study of Ethnic Differences

In this study, we examined the college-readiness rates of Black, Hispanic, and White Texas public high school graduates using archival data from the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System. An examination of the state college-readiness rates across a 3-year period was conducted to determine the extent to which academic achievement gaps had increased, decreased, or remained relatively large and stable among Black, Hispanic, and White high school graduates in Texas. For the 3 years of data, college-readiness rates of White students were higher than the college-readiness rates of Black and Hispanic students in reading, math, and both subjects by large margins. Of the 27 statistical analyses of college readiness, statistically significant findings were present, revealing 19 large effect sizes, one near-large effect size, one moderate effect size, and six small effect sizes. Although Black and Hispanic students increased their college-readiness rates, White students also increased their college-readiness rates in reading, math, and both subjects to maintain the status quo for student academic achievement.

Dual Credit Enrollment: A Multiyear Study of Gender and Ethnic Differences

In this investigation, we ascertained the extent to which differences were present in dual credit enrollment by gender and by ethnicity for students () enrolled in a Texas community college from the 2005-2006 through the 2011-2012 academic years. Statistical analyses revealed an increase in the numbers (i.e., from 3,069 to 3,664) and percentages (i.e., from 12.2% to 19.5%) of students who were enrolled in dual credit courses over the time period analyzed. Moreover, higher percentages of women (i.e., 20.8% in the most recent academic year) had enrolled in dual credit courses while in high school than men (i.e., 17.9% in the most recent academic year). Differences were also present as a function of ethnicity, with 33.1% Asian, 25.3% White, 17.4% Hispanic, and 7.5% Black students having been enrolled in dual credit in the most recent academic year. Differences were also revealed by gender for Hispanic and White students, but not for Asian and Black students. Implications of our findings are discussed.

Advanced Placement Scores for Black Male Students from Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachetts, and Texas

Differences in student performance were analyzed for Black males in Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Texas on the Advanced Placement English Language and Composition, Calculus AB, Biology, and United States History examinations from the 2001 through the 2012 exam years. All analyses included in the comparisons of overall examination scores and U.S. History examination scores were statistically significant. Of the 48 individual examination comparisons, 26 yielded evidence of a statistically significant difference among the Black male students from the selected states. Massachusetts was the state with the highest percentages of Black male students who achieved an AP score of 4 or 5. Conversely, Texas was the state with the highest percentages of Black male students who failed to achieve an AP score of 4 or 5. Implications for policy regarding advanced placement testing as an avenue for preparing students for college and recommendations for future research are discussed.