Philadelphia Inquirer: Black students not sharing in AP course gain

Interesting look at AP from the achievment gap perspective...

Black students not sharing in AP course gain
By James M. O'Neill
Bloomberg News
Black high school students are missing out on an enrollment surge in Advanced Placement courses that help determine who will make it into college.
The percentage of all students who had at least one AP course rose to 24 percent in 2006 from 16 percent in 2000, the New York-based College Board, which runs the program, reported yesterday.
In New Jersey, the number of students taking AP courses rose to 23.5 percent from 17.9 percent during that period. Pennsylvania's rate improved to 16.6 percent from 12.4 percent in 2000.
Nationwide, black students were 14 percent of the student population and only 6.9 percent of those in the college-prep courses, a gain of less than a percentage point in six years.
"An aching gap still exists in terms of average scores and achievement for minority students," said Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, in a telephone interview Feb. 2. "We still have a lot of work to do."
College admissions officers use AP exam results to predict a student's ability to succeed, and colleges often offer course credits for high scores. The report cited two new studies by University of Texas researchers who found students who took AP courses outperformed their classmates in college.
"Despite increased diversification of the AP classroom, African American and Native American students remain significantly underrepresented in AP classrooms nationwide," the report said. "Hispanic students remain underrepresented in AP classrooms in many states."
In 2000, black students accounted for 13 percent of the population and 6 percent of those in the classes. The new report found the gap for black students was especially large in some states.
"No states with large numbers of African American students have achieved equitable representation in AP classrooms," said Trevor Packer, executive director of the College Board's AP program, at a news conference.
In New Jersey, where 14.8 percent of the students are African American, only 5.5 percent of students who took AP exams in the state last spring were African American.
African American students account for 11.8 percent of the student population in Pennsylvania, but only 4.7 percent of those taking AP last spring were black.
Hispanic high school students were 14 percent of the AP exam-takers nationwide, equal to their share of the high school population. They fell short of their population share in most states, the report said.
Fourteen percent of New Jersey's students are Hispanic, but just 9.3 percent of the state's AP test-takers were Hispanic in 2006. In Pennsylvania, where 3.4 percent of students are Hispanic, 2.4 percent of the test takers last spring were Hispanic.
Hispanic and black students also average lower scores on their AP exams than white and Asian students.
The results among blacks and Hispanics indicate that their teachers, like the students, "are not receiving adequate preparation for the rigors of an AP course," the report said.
The College Board, an association of universities, is best known for overseeing the SAT college entrance exam and also works with schools to develop the AP curriculum.
There are 37 AP courses, and exams are offered in 22 subject areas. In 2006, students at 16,000 schools, mostly in this country, took AP exams. Schools on average offer eight AP courses.
Tests are graded on a five-point scale, with a 5 meaning "extremely well-qualified."
The College Board also singled out 85 public and private schools across the country for seeing a large percentage of their students obtain high scores on AP exams.
Devon Preparatory School, a private Catholic college-prep school for boys, is the only school in this region honored.
It received accolades for students' performance on the AP Physics B Program. The Rev. James J. Shea, headmaster, said 20 of the 22 students in the class scored 3 or higher on the exam last spring.
Devon requires all students to take physics during their junior year, and Shea said students were increasingly opting for the AP course.
Read the full report via http://go.philly.com/apreport