AP disparities

Florida has led the charge nationally in increasing the number of students taking Advanced Placement exams. But access to the AP courses and exams has not been even across all demographic groups or in all schools, according to a new policy brief by Enlace Florida at the University of South Florida.

In Hillsborough schools, for instance, white students represented 48% of the student population in 2006 and constituted 62% of all AP test takers. At the same time, black students made up 21% of the student population yet were only 9% of all AP test takers.

At the school level, things looked even more uneven. Leto High enrolled nearly 1,200 Hispanic students, of whom just 85 took AP tests. Meanwhile, Plant High enrolled just 331 Hispanic students, of whom 97 took AP exams.

"The question our report simply presents is why it is that Plant H.S. with only a third of the Hispanic students in Leto H.S., can produce more Hispanic AP examinees?" researcher Paul Dosal wonders in a news release.

To read the full report, click here.

Comments

[Chris W]

62% is an A? Yeesh! Maybe if our students were back on block schedules and our teachers had *time* to really teach them physics, or chemistry, or math, or history... and the students could actually learn it.

Instead we have this short-sighted grade inflation that is either there to cover the superintendent's butt and preserve her bonuses, or it's some dumb-ass suicide mission by Republicans aimed at blowing up the public schools.

[Administrative convenience and bias unchecked]

If you want to understand how to understand why numbers in Hillsborough County can be made to suit an administrative convenience, look no further than this:

"Just 62 percent correct on the physics semester exam equals an A, for example."

"I can guarantee you no student is going to get a worse grade," said David Steele, the Hillsborough County School District's general director for secondary education. "Our goal is to ensure the grade on the semester exam mirrors the class grades for the nine weeks."

found at

MARILYN BROWN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 12, 2008