Washington Monthly - September/October 2021 - 35

AP Performance by Race: 2019
(Pass rate = percentage of exams scoring 3 or higher)
Pass Rate
Asian
Black
White
Hispanic
National
72.4%
31.8%
65.1%
44.5%
59.1%
Mean Score
3.34
2.09
3.04
2.46
2.89
students' exams and 44.5 percent of Latino students' exams
received passing scores, compared to 72.4 percent
for Asian students and 65.1 percent for white students.
(Nationally, the pass rate was 59.1 percent.)
Racial disparities in pass rates are even starker at
Battlefield High School in Haymarket, Virginia. Though
Battlefield offers 27 AP classes, CT told me that his high
school guidance counselor discouraged him from taking
them. In 2017, according to civil rights data, 29 percent of
Black students at Battlefield were enrolled in an AP class,
compared to 33 percent of white students and 49 percent
of Asian ones. While Black students made up 8.9 percent
of the student body, they comprised just 4.8 percent of
students taking AP math. White and Asian students, by
comparison, accounted for 70.6 percent of the student
body and 79.6 percent of the students in AP math.
CT thinks that " there's a stereotype against minority
groups " when it comes to higher-level classes. He said he
has long demonstrated an interest in such courses, and
he's " had success in all of them. " But his guidance counselor
has not been supportive, and he had to enroll in
AP classes over her objections. " She didn't see my work
ethic; she didn't see the attitude behind it . . . Maybe she
just saw other African American students weren't showing
too much interest in them, so she made a generalization
that all of them weren't going to be successful. " (The
Prince William County associate superintendent for high
schools, Michael Mulgrew, did not respond to requests
for comment.)
Even Hylton High School superstar Pressley said
she wasn't encouraged to take advanced course work.
" They always suggested that you take a regular course, "
she said. " They never outlined all the AP courses that
are available. "
Lack of access to AP classes isn't the only problem
Black and Hispanic students encounter. They also
face a dearth of resources and support, resulting in severe
disparities in AP exam performance between white
students and minorities, and between poor schools and
wealthy ones.
While the majority of AP exams taken by white and
Asian students consistently receive passing scores (3 or
higher on a scale of 5), the majority of exams taken by
Black students do not. In 2019, just 3.9 percent of Black
students' exams scored a 5, compared to 14.4 percent of
white students, 23.8 percent of Asian students, and 8.3
percent of Latinos. Overall in 2019, 31.8 percent of Black
the state level, mirroring other inequities in resources
and achievement. In Washington, D.C., where the whiteBlack
performance gap is largest, 79.5 percent of white
students' exams received passing scores in 2019 compared
to 23.1 percent of Black students'. Four southern states-
Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama-had the
lowest overall pass rates for Black students' exams. In Arkansas,
for instance, the Black student exam pass rate
in 2019 was a dismal 12.4 percent. States with the highest
Black student pass rates also had the fewest number
of exams. South Dakota's pass rate for Black students-
the nation's highest in 2019, at 53.6 percent-was based
on just 140 exams (compared to 3,942 exams taken
by whites).
Yawning racial gaps in performance on AP exams
have in some cases worsened over time. Among Latino
students, pass rates have declined as participation has
grown, falling by more than 16 percentage points from
61.1 percent in 1997. White students' pass rates, in conAs
more colleges and
universities go " testoptional "
with the SAT
and ACT, AP could end up
playing an outsized role as
admissions officers scramble
for alternate standards by
which to judge applicants.
trast, have stayed constant: 65.5 percent in 1997 versus
65.1 percent in 2019. " The case may be that more AP participation
is not necessarily beneficial, " San Diego State's
Kolluri wrote in a 2018 study.
Pass rates among Black students have oscillated but
remained stubbornly low, never hitting 40 percent. The
difference in pass rates between white and Black students
has also remained high, hovering around 33 percent.
The gap between Black and Asian students has increased
from 32.9 percent to 40.6 percent. (Though pass
rates for all groups rose sharply in 2020, these results are
likely an anomaly, given widely reported technical glitches
in test administration and a big decline in test-takers
due to the pandemic.)
Washington Monthly 35
Calculations by author based on College Board data
Washington Monthly - September/October 2021

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