Latino and African American students' self-efficacy in AP calculus courses

Research shows that even though enrollment in Advanced Placement (AP) classes has continued to grow nationally minority students (e.g. Latino, Black, Native American, and Southeast Asian American) remain largely underrepresented in these programs. Minorities continue experiencing problems accessing higher education and persisting to graduation (Palmer, Davis, & Hilton, 2009; Strayhorn, 2008) especially in STEM fields (Moore, 2006; Museus et al., 2011; Öztürk, 2007). According to Brown and Campbell (2008) "African American and Hispanic students initially took fewer AP tests in mathematics and science and their rate of increase in AP testing severely trails behind their White and Asian American counterparts" (p. 237). Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and self-efficacy serve as way to explore issues associated with minorities entering (AP) science, and math courses. Recognizing that there are many interrelated factors for minority students, a mixed methodology is the logical choice. The target populations are Latinos and African American Students enrolled in math and science AP courses in an urban school district. Lastly, research on self-efficacy suggests that practitioners should pay as much attention to students' self-efficacy; their perceptions of capability as they do to students' actual capability (Rittmayer & Beier, 2008; A. L. Zeldin & Pajares, 2000). However, there is a need for further research in how socioeconomic factors influence self-efficacy and how demographic variables interact with pedagogical practices to influence self-efficacy beliefs.