Despite the strides made by educators and school districts to provide underrepresented students access to Advanced Placement courses, known predictors of college success, African-Americans lag behind their White counterparts in AP course enrollment and success, the College Board reveals in its annual AP Report to the Nation.
While there are more minority students entering AP classrooms, significant gaps in equity and excellence remain, the College Board reports.
“An analysis of the students sitting in the AP classrooms compared to students sitting in non-AP classrooms reveals a true and startling lack of equity,” says Trevor Packer, vice president of the AP program at the College Board. “We can see that African-American students, in particular, are not receiving the encouragement and support to enroll in AP classes.”
According to the report, Black students comprise just 7.4 percent of students who participate in taking AP tests, even though they account for 14 percent of all students at their high schools. There was little discrepancy between AP exam enrollment rates and overall enrollment rates for Hispanic and White students, while Asian American students represented a disproportionately higher number of AP exam enrollees.
While several states including Florida, Georgia, Maryland and Oklahoma have been able to close the equity gap for Hispanic students, no state with large numbers of African-American or American Indian students has yet to close the gap, the report says.
