Leveling Up: A Behavioral Nudge to Increase Enrollment in Advanced Coursework
Taking advanced courses in high school predicts many positive postsecondary and labor market outcomes. Typically, decisions about which students are eligible to take advanced courses are based on teacher or counselor recommendations, parent requests, or student self-selection. However, evidence suggests that these approaches may contribute to inequitable advanced course enrollment, particularly for Black students, Hispanic students, and students from low-income backgrounds.
This study is among the first to produce rigorous estimates of changes following the adoption of targeted automatic enrollment policies or programs.
To increase equity in advanced course enrollment, more than 70 districts in Washington state implemented an automatic enrollment policy called Academic Acceleration. The policy requires schools to automatically identify students for advanced coursework based on their standardized test scores. Students are then automatically enrolled into the more-advanced course (e.g., dual credit English instead of regular English, AP Pre-Calculus instead of regular Pre-Calculus), and are given information about the benefits of advanced courses and an opportunity to opt-out if desired. Between 2010–11 and 2020–21, dozens of Washington districts adopted Academic Acceleration. Beginning in 2021–22, the state required all districts to adopt the policy.
In this study, AIR experts used difference-in-differences models to compare changes in advanced course enrollments, grade point averages (GPAs), and high school graduation in cohorts of districts that began implementing the policy at different times.
Key Findings
View the two-page study summary (PDF)
We found advanced course enrollment increased after districts began implementing an academic acceleration policy and did so without harming student performance.
In districts that implemented the policy:
- Advanced course enrollment increased across subject areas for all students.
- Advanced course enrollment for students from racial/ethnic groups underrepresented in advanced courses and students from low-income families began to catch up to enrollment rates for historically advantaged students.
- Students’ GPAs and their chances of on-time high school graduation remained stable overall.
The study findings demonstrate support for automatic enrollment as a lever to increase advanced course enrollment for all students with potential to succeed.
The findings can inform the increasing number of district, state, and federal policymakers considering or beginning to implement similar policies across the United States. They also contribute to the growing body of behavioral economics research on nudges and the power of changing defaults, as well as the broader literature on policies designed to accelerate course taking and expand participation in advanced courses.
