AP Course Taking And Passage Soars

 

Form College Board:

Today we are releasing the College Board’s 10th Annual AP® Report to the Nation, which shows that state leaders and educators are making significant progress in expanding both access to and success in Advanced Placement®, and, by doing so, are providing opportunity to more students every year.

Our new data show that, over the past decade, the number of students who took AP Exams in high school has doubled and the number of low-income students taking AP has more than quadrupled. We are delighted to see that this expansion in AP participation has also resulted in a significant increase in the number of AP Exam scores of 3 or higher, which is the score typically required for college credit or placement. This is a tribute to the hard work of educators and students, and it underlines our conviction that all students who are academically prepared — no matter their location, background, or socioeconomic status — deserve the opportunity to access the rigor and benefits of AP.

Though challenges remain, progress is being made to close equity gaps in AP participation and success among underrepresented minority students. Over the past school year:

 

•	Thirty states made progress in African American representation among AP Exam takers and those scoring 3 or higher.

 

•	Twenty-eight states made progress in Hispanic/Latino representation among AP Exam takers and those scoring 3 or higher.

 

Data from the report also show that nearly 300,000 academically prepared students in this country either did not take a course in an available AP subject for which they had potential, or attended a school that did not offer an AP course in that subject.