Perceptions of Advanced Placement Teachers and Dual Enrollment Teachers About Avenues of College Readiness in Rural North Carolina

College readiness has been a primary focus of U.S. secondary education for over 40 years. Despite the continued focus on college readiness at the national, state, and local levels, researchers have claimed that educational reforms have resulted in little gains in students’ college readiness, warranting continued emphasis and research. To advance college readiness, secondary and postsecondary institutions offer rigorous advanced courses with college competencies. While these courses may positively impact college readiness, research has shown gaps for students of color, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and rural students. Despite much college-readiness research, the issue remains relevant; specifically, teacher perspectives still need to be studied. This gap in the literature warrants acknowledgment and further investigation.
This exploratory, multiple-case, qualitative study sought to bridge this gap by exploring Advanced Placement secondary teachers’ and Dual Enrollment postsecondary instructors’ perspectives of college readiness regarding advanced courses in a rural North Carolina setting. The results from two focus group interviews, an Advanced Placement focus group and a Dual Enrollment focus group, indicated that advanced-course teachers perceived college readiness as multifaceted, extending beyond knowledge and performance, and they perceived a rigorous program design enhances college readiness. However, they perceived differences between the two educational systems, leading to frustration for the secondary teachers. Implications reflect the dire need for better communication and curriculum alignment between the two systems and support recommendations for expanding the scope of qualitative research with continued quantitative methods.