More Louisiana high school students are earning college-credit through Advanced Placement, or AP for short. Every year that number grows, and this year is no exception.
Thursday, Louisiana State Superintendent of Education John White announced the 2017 AP results.
“For the fifth consecutive year, Advanced Placement student results have increased dramatically in Louisiana,” said White.
More specifically, White said more than 6,500 students earned qualifying scores on this year’s exams. That is up 10% from last year.
One of the most notable improvements is in African-American students excelling in and having more access to these AP courses.
“This year gained 17 percent in terms of the number of students earning college credits through Advanced Placement, and in the course of the last five years have grown over 197 percent, also a notable and extraordinary accomplishments,” explained White.
East Baton Rouge Parish lead the state in that category, but across our state, Superintendent White pointed out more work needs to be done.
“There are 23 districts in our state where not a single African-American student to an AP test this year, and that’s out of 69 districts statewide. We must improve. We must change that circumstance. Every student should have access to these outstanding courses no matter race or background,” said White.
Over the years, White said Louisiana has seen an increase in act scores, graduation rates and more students going to college.
“It validates the effort that students, teachers and administrators alike making are schools and shows when you have high expectations, when you maintain those high expectations overtime, you can change lives,” concluded White.
If you would like to see the full results, click here.