Opening the window of alternative greater than pays for itself.
The Healey-Driscoll Administration not too long ago introduced that the variety of Massachusetts public high-school college students who scored a 3 or increased on Superior Placement exams has risen by 55% since 2021, with Black and Hispanic or Latino college students making a number of the strongest good points, in keeping with latest information from the School Board.
The minority college students’ spectacular good points didn’t occur accidentally.
In the event you don’t play, you possibly can’t rating.
And on this case, if you happen to don’t have the monetary means to pay for the AP examination, you’ll by no means know the way you measure up in opposition to your different classmates and college students nationwide.
AP exams value virtually $100 every, which could be an insurmountable impediment for college kids from lower-income households.
However by the administration’s Reimagining Excessive College initiative, which seeks to make sure that highschool graduates have the tutorial abilities essential to succeed, whether or not in faculty or in at the moment’s workforce, the state subsidizes nearly all of that AP payment.
With the state’s contribution, low-income college students – or their faculty – will solely have to pay $22 per AP examination.
Research present that college students who take AP programs in highschool usually tend to enroll in a four-year faculty and carry out higher in introductory faculty programs.
Beneath this administration, Massachusetts has backed 90,783 AP exams for almost 50,000 low-income college students.
Bolstered by that inflow of AP take a look at takers, the variety of public high-school college students taking Superior Placement checks grew by 26% from 2021 to 2025.
The variety of Black college students scoring 3 or increased out of a attainable 5 on an AP take a look at almost tripled from 2021 to 2025, and the variety of Hispanic or Latino college students greater than doubled, in comparison with an general enhance of 55% for Massachusetts public faculty college students.
These good points got here because the variety of Massachusetts college students taking AP exams is rising, up 47% for Black college students and 72% for Hispanic/Latino college students, in comparison with 26% general.
“AP success opens doorways to varsity and profession pathways, and seeing such sturdy good points, particularly amongst Black and Hispanic college students, exhibits what’s attainable when entry, preparation and alternative align,” mentioned Schooling Secretary Patrick Tutwiler.
These outcomes reinforce the state’s already documented AP success price.
The administration introduced in February {that a} third of scholars who graduated from Massachusetts public excessive colleges in 2024 scored a 3 or increased on an AP examination, the state’s highest share ever and the very best within the nation for the second yr in a row.
A rating of three out of 5 on an AP examination signifies a pupil’s capacity to finish work for an introductory college-level course in that topic space. Some schools will award college students credit score for AP scores of three or increased.
Sure, opening that door of alternative will pay dividends for numerous college students, and effectively definitely worth the value of these incentives.
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