The 74 Million – Anna Rosefsky Saavedra and Amie Rapaport
“In most U.S. high schools, Advanced Placement courses are the only way to access accelerated material and early college credit. Over the past roughly 20 years, there has been considerable growth in AP participation among marginalized students. This is due to a concerted effort on the part of the College Board, which designs, administers and oversees scoring of the AP exam, and school districts nationwide to expand enrollment beyond already higher-performing and advantaged students — including relaxing prerequisites and encouraging more students to sign up. Between 2003 and 2018 the number of AP exam takers nearly doubled, to close to 40 percent of high school students, with participation tripling among those from lower-income households.” (more)