After a lull following the pandemic, more Wisconsin high school students are starting to take Advanced Placement courses and exams again.
But data shows students of color and lower socioeconomic backgrounds continue to fall behind in enrolling in the courses and taking the exams, which give kids the chance to earn college credits in high school.
During the 2021-22 school year, Wisconsin students in ninth through 12th grade took 67,320 AP exams. In many cases, students took exams for multiple AP courses.
About three-fourths of Wisconsin school districts offer advanced placement classes to high school students. Created by the national non-profit College Board, the university-level classes offer students the chance to earn credits in courses like calculus, psychology and world history. Students who pass an exam on completion of the course can earn college credits.
Of the AP exams taken last year, nearly 80 percent of the tests — 53,584 — were taken by white students. Asian students took about 5,000 tests and Hispanic students took about 4,500 tests.
Just 2.4 percent of the tests — 1,600 — were taken by Black students.