The Popular Guys in the AP Class: Status,Relationships,and Academic Identity for Boys at an Urban School

Abstract

Background:

The academic performance of Black and Latino young men has long been a source of concern in educational circles. Advanced Placement (AP) classes—challenging courses that can earn students college credit—underserve Black and Latino young men. Some argue that racially minoritized young men who do well in school pay a social price for doing so, losing friends by way of AP participation. Ultimately, the exclusion of young men from the most challenging high school coursework has implications for their educational attainment.

Objective:

This study complicates notions of masculinity, popularity, and academic achievement. First, young men are not entirely absent from AP. In addition, experiences of “popularity” are complex and varied, and how popularity corresponds with AP participation is uncertain for this group.

Research Design:

Leveraging social network analysis and relational ethnography, this study explores social status, relationships, and AP participation at an urban school. The social network data consist of 78% of a class of 164 juniors. Relational ethnography focused primarily on eight young men in two separate friend groups at the school.

Conclusions:

The data illuminate two versions of popularity with implications for AP participation. Young men with more friends were more likely to participate in AP classes. This “interpersonal popularity,” the ethnographic data show, facilitated support systems and dispositions conducive to AP enrollment. Meanwhile, young men with fewer friends, in more exclusive, widely respected friend groups, remained outside the AP program. This “reputational popularity” necessitated status maintenance and provided fewer avenues to advanced coursework. Findings broaden theoretical understandings of masculinity, popularity, and academic engagement in urban contexts.