Sec. 3. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Black, Latino, and Native American students, students with disabilities, English learners, and students from low-income families are underrepresented in advanced programs and courses. While 1 in 10 students in schools in the United States participate in the Advanced Placement
(AP)program, just over 1 in 20 low-income, Black, and Native American students participate in Advanced Placement, 1 in 50 English learners participate, and fewer than 1 in 50 students with disabilities participate. One in 10 White students, 1 in 15 Latino students, and 1 in 20 Black students participate in dual enrollment programs. Taking the mathematics course Algebra 1 in grade 8 is necessary for most students to be on track for enrolling in advanced math courses in high school. If Black and Latino students had a fair opportunity to participate in eighth grade Algebra I across the country, schools would enroll an additional 43,019 Black students and 59,452 Latino students in eighth grade Algebra I courses. The Department of Education reported that in the 2015–2016 school year, only 48 percent of schools with high concentrations of English learners offered Algebra I compared with 70 percent of schools with low concentrations of English learner students. In the same year, just 2 percent of English learner students nationwide were enrolled in Algebra I in grade 8. A low-income student with reading and math achievement levels equal to those of a high-income student is half as likely to receive gifted services as the high-income student. Black students are approximately half as likely as White peers with the same mathematics and reading achievement levels to be referred to gifted services. A major barrier for Black and Latino students and students with disabilities to access advanced courses and programs is the over-reliance on subjective criteria, such as the recommendation of teachers and counselors, in the advanced course admittance process. When Denver Public Schools implemented universal screening for gifted and talented programs, Latino students were identified for the program at twice the rate as the year before. Just 1 in 12 students in the United States scored in the top 2 proficiency levels on the 2018 PISA math assessment. This is below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD)average and less than half the rate of South Korea, Japan, and Switzerland. Public elementary schools and secondary schools face a $305,000,000,000 budget shortfall due to COVID–19 related tax revenue decreases and new COVID–19 related expenses. As school districts prepare to make drastic cuts to educational programming, access to advanced coursework and programs is in jeopardy for millions of students, especially students from underrepresented groups and students attending under-resourced schools. Additional funding and reforms are needed to maintain and expand access to advanced coursework and programs, especially for marginalized students in communities hit hardest by the COVID–19 pandemic.