Advanced academics such as Advanced Placement (AP) program, have served as a natural curriculum delivery option for motivated and talented high school students for decades. However, prior studies have indicated that students from certain racial groups have been historically unrepresented in these prestigious programs (Shores et al., 2019). Despite vast number of studies on racial disparities in these programs, research investigating the direction and magnitude of racial disparities is scarce. In this study, the authors analyzed data of over 10,000,000 students who participated in the Advanced Placement (AP) mathematics exams from 1997 to 2020 using trend analysis across races to understand the magnitude and direction of the excellence gaps. Our findings indicated that Native American, Black, and Hispanic students have been widely underrepresented in all AP mathematics exams across years; however, the trend analysis showed significant upward trends for Native American, Hispanic, Black students. Possible impacts of these findings within the context of the underrepresentation in STEM fields were also discussed.

This study investigates the availability and utilization of instructional materials for teaching mathematics in senior secondary schools in Saki, Oyo State, Nigeria. Employing a descriptive survey research design, the research includes 127 mathematics teachers from both public and private schools in Saki East and West Local Government Areas. The research instrument, the Availability and Utilization of Instructional Materials Questionnaire (AUIMQ), was adapted from Okobia (2011) and undergoes rigorous validation. The instrument was validated by five experts and had a reliability coefficient of 0.91 using Pearson correlation. The researcher obtained informed consent from the principals and teachers at the sampled schools and ensured ethical issues such as anonymity, privacy, and confidentiality. The data were analysed using frequency, percentage, and chi-square statistics at 0.05 level of significance. Results reveal that 57.1% of the sampled instructional materials are available, emphasizing a notable scarcity. Additionally, 52.4% of the available materials are effectively utilized, highlighting room for improvement in instructional practices. Gender-based disparities among teachers indicate a significant difference in the use of instructional materials. Notably, qualified teachers demonstrate more effective utilization compared to their unqualified counterparts, and experienced teachers outperform less experienced ones in utilizing instructional materials. Recommendations include policy interventions to enhance material availability, targeted professional development for teachers to improve utilization, and strategies to address gender-based disparities. Furthermore, efforts to upgrade the qualifications of teachers and promote knowledge exchange among educators are suggested to ensure uniform and effective use of instructional materials. The study's findings contribute valuable insights for educational stakeholders and policymakers, emphasizing the need for interventions to optimize the impact of instructional materials on mathematics education in the study area.