| Several Tennessee rural high schools attempt to meet high-achieving high school students' needs by providing them access to advanced coursework like Advanced Placement and dual-enrollment courses, but some rural high school leaders question whether or not providing their high-achieving students with access to these courses is the best approach for ensuring these students continue to make achievement gains and prepare for college. This study sought to determine if Tennessee's rural, high-achieving high school students who complete Advanced Placement, dual-enrollment, honors, or standard-level coursework in their junior and senior years have statistically significant differences in their ACT subtest scores in English, Mathematics, and Science. Specifically, this study included 124 participants from the graduating classes of 2014 in 8 rural high schools in middle Tennessee. This study used participants' PLAN English, Mathematics, and Science subtest scores as covariates to factor out preexisting differences amongst participants. This study also used one-way multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) tests to determine whether or not the level of courses participants completed in English, mathematics, and science in their junior or senior years impacted participants' ACT English, Mathematics, and Science subtest scores in participants' junior and senior years, while factoring out the covariates. Findings from this study suggest no statistically significant differences exist in participants' ACT subtest scores among participants who completed standard, honors, dual-enrollment, or Advanced Placement courses in their junior or senior years. These findings suggest rural high school leaders must do more than simply offer their high-achieving high school students access to advanced courses by title alone. They must ensure that their high-achieving students have the academic readiness to be successful in these courses, and they must ensure that teachers provide high-quality instruction of a rigorous curriculum. In addition, school leaders should consider data other than just ACT results to determine whether their high-achieving students are making adequate achievement gains and are adequately prepared for college. |
