An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: The National Academies Press
Published: 2015-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

NOTE: Scores on AP exams range from 1 to 5.

SOURCE: Data provided to the committee by the DCPS Office of Teaching and Learning.

Table 5-7 shows how AP course-taking varies by ward: the number of unique courses offered for the wards, the number of students who registered for and actually took at least one of the courses, and how many special education students took at least one of the courses.37 Table 5-8 shows the same information by individual DCPS school. More detailed analysis of the academic programs and other characteristics of the 14 high schools would be needed to fully explain the data, but a few points are striking. One is that Ward 3, with only one high school, has more AP class registrations than Ward 1, with four high schools (the largest number of high schools in any ward). However, it is important to remember that it is not clear how many students are represented multiple times in the respective totals; that is, it is possible that students in Ward 3 are more likely to enroll in multiple AP courses than other students. Another is that three schools, Columbia Heights, School Without Walls, and Wilson, stand out as having significantly more courses offered and more students represented in them than the other 12 schools.

A recent report prepared by the sponsor of the AP, the College Board, provides context for this information as well as some discussion of D.C.’s situation (College Board, 2014). The report confirms that AP exam-taking (as distinct from course-taking) has increased among D.C.’s public school students: in 2000, 22.2 percent of the city’s high school students took at least one AP exam; in 2006, 55.7 percent did so. However, the city has the largest opportunity gap in the nation for black students. This group made up 81.8 percent of graduating seniors in 2013 but represented only 67 percent of AP exam takers (although this was an increase from the previous year).38 Black students made up only 33.7 percent of exam takers who scored a 3 or higher (which was a decrease from the previous year). The gap for low-income students in D.C. is also the greatest in the nation: students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch were 73 percent of all students but only 48.5 percent of exam takers and 36.4 percent of those who scored a 3 or higher.

TABLE 5-7 Advanced Placement Courses and Enrollment, by Ward

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.