Blacks in Fairfax, Montgomery Outdo U.S. Peers in AP

Daniel de Vise:

Black students in Montgomery and Fairfax high schools are far more successful in Advanced Placement testing than their peers in nine of the 10 school systems in the nation with the largest black populations, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Participation in the AP program has more than doubled in 10 years. But this surge in college-preparatory testing has not reached most African American students, according to a review of 2006 exam results in 30 school systems with about 5,000 or more black high school students.
Still, black students in both Montgomery and Fairfax counties passed AP tests in spring 2006 at the rate of more than eight tests for every 100 black students enrolled in the high school grades, the analysis found.
That is far greater than the success rate of African Americans nationwide, who produced about one passing AP test for every 100 students. None of the other school systems studied produced successful AP tests at even half the rate of Maryland’s and Virginia’s largest school systems.

One thought on “Blacks in Fairfax, Montgomery Outdo U.S. Peers in AP”

  1. Looks like the experiences of these two districts could provide valuable lessons for our school district. Early identification of promising students (even as early as elementary school), programs in middle school that support and encourage critical thinking and good study skills, and placement into honors classes in the first two years of high school. Currently the District’s small Project Excel program is the only one of these three pieces in place. These results suggest that program should be expanded, and we should be increasing the numbers of Honors classes for ninth and tenth graders, not reducing the numbers of those offerings. Add in early identification, and we could be seeing similar levels of success amongst our students.

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