Extra Credit, Extra Criticism

Advanced Placement courses are increasingly being viewed as indicative of minority equity — and the indicators don't look good.
By Pamela Burdman

OAKLAND, Calif.
Massanda D'Johns has always planned to go to college, and now the Castlemont High School senior isn't taking any chances. Castlemont, in Oakland, Calif., offers six Advanced Placement courses, and at the end of her senior year, D'Johns will have taken them all.
"I might as well get the most I can while I'm in high school," she said during a recent lunch break in her AP English classroom. "Plus, it'll look good on my transcript. There are better opportunities if you have a college degree."
D'Johns, 17, plans to apply to three University of California campuses, as well as Clark-Atlanta, Morris Brown and Howard universities.
And she thinks she stands a good chance of getting admitted. Ranked first in her class, she boasts a grade-point average of 3.87, not counting the extra weight that UC schools give for AP courses.
That extra credit is at the heart of a drive to expand AP opportunities for high school students in California, with new state funds being dedicated to the program in response to a civil rights lawsuit that accuses the state of not providing equal access to the rigorous college-level courses.
The emphasis on AP is not, however, unique to California. That's partly because a U.S. Department of Education study of 1982 high school graduates concluded that students who took AP courses were more likely to complete college.
Increasingly AP is seen as an indication of school quality and a measure of equity — and in most places, equity is sorely lacking.
Of the roughly 750,000 students who took more than 1.2 million exams last May, only 36,000 — less than 5 percent — were African American. Minority students also tend to pass the classes at lower rates. While the national passing rate for AP classes nationwide is 65 percent, the rate is only about 33 percent of Black students and about 50 percent for Latino students.
"Our numbers for African American participation are not what we would like them to be nationally," admits Dr. Frederick Wright, director of equity and access initiatives for AP at the College Board.
Many officials say the gap is not surprising, given that minority students are under-represented across the board when it comes to educational resources. But many people are seeking to expand opportunities.
In February, the College Board held a forum with the U.S. Department of Education to encourage states to promote AP and inform state officials of a pool of $20 million available to help them.
But with many states spearheading efforts to expand Advanced Placement programs to under-served schools, and with College Board officials waving money to boost the effort, many higher education experts are wondering: What role will the Advanced Placement program play in helping better prepare minority students for college? And how much can the program really affect retention for student populations desperately in need of help?