The College Board’s fifth annual report on the Advanced Placement program said that black students are far less likely than white, Latino or Asian students to have passed ‘shy;’mdash; or even to have taken ‘shy;’mdash; the exam.
Although the program is growing and 15 percent of graduating high-school seniors nationwide passed at least one AP exam, only 8 percent of the students taking the exam were black, even though they comprised 14 percent of the total graduating senior class. Black students also made up only 4 percent of students who received passing scores.
White and Latino students, which made up 63 percent and 15 percent of the graduating population, respectively, were close to proportionally represented among the AP population. Asian students, who made up 10 percent of the population taking the AP exam but only 5 percent of graduates, were overrepresented.
‘In these times of economic distress, as family budgets are squeezed and financial-aid resources are spread thin, rigorous courses like AP that prepare students for the demands of college and foster an increased likelihood of on-time graduation can be a very valuable resource for families,’ College Board President Gaston Caperton told the New York Times.