Fairfax is in Blacks?

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

By Daniel de Vise

Washington Post Staff Writer

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.

Jerry D. Weast, Montgomery's superintendent, said that the county's black students generated a larger number of passing AP tests last year -- 851 exams from 10,326 students -- than any other school system in the nation except New York City, although they trail whites and Asians in Montgomery.

AP experts believe Weast, although the claim is difficult to prove, because each system's scores are proprietary. School districts provided their AP data to The Post.

"Eight years ago, we started knocking down barriers and eliminating prerequisites so more African American students could enroll in rigorous AP courses," Weast said, "because the bottom line is that AP is the way to go. It is the best way to prepare kids for success in college."

Fairfax, with 5,771 black high school students, had 494 passing tests from African Americans.

The AP program began in 1955 as a means for top high school students to take college courses. A national surge in AP testing began in the late 1990s as a quest for greater rigor for a broader spectrum of high school students. Participation among black students has tripled in 10 years. But the numbers were so low 10 years ago that by 2006, none of the largest school systems in the country could meet the goal of having 1,000 passing tests from black students.

In the 1 million-student New York City system, the nation's largest, black students produced 987 AP tests that earned scores of 3 or higher on the five-point AP grading scale in 2006. Philadelphia yielded 144 passing AP tests from black students. District schools had 108.

Four other school systems in the Washington and Baltimore suburbs with large black populations -- Prince George's County, Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County in Maryland and Prince William County in Virginia -- each outperformed black students in the nation as a whole in AP testing, although none approached the national average for all public school students.

Baltimore City, on the other hand, yielded only 90 passing AP tests from a population of more than 20,000 black high school students.

The affluence of Montgomery and Fairfax counties partly explains the success of their African American students on AP tests. But school officials note that those systems' minority populations are not particularly affluent. In Montgomery, for example, 45 percent of black students in the Class of 2006 who took AP tests qualified for federal meal subsidies.

The two school systems -- and others with strong minority AP performance -- have actively recruited black and Hispanic students into AP coursework. In the past, teachers and counselors routinely steered minorities away from the program, which was considered the province of a mostly white academic elite.

Montgomery and Fairfax use standardized tests such as the PSAT, taken early in high school, to identify and recruit promising students of all races into an AP pipeline. They place large numbers of minorities in accelerated studies as early as elementary school and into honors classes in the first two years of high school. Fairfax pays for all AP tests, removing a potential economic barrier. Montgomery has done away with AP course prerequisites that used to disqualify many minorities.

The analysis of AP performance began as a project of Weast's -- he surmised that his school system, with its strong black AP performance, was "a tall tree in a short forest."

The College Board, which administers the AP program, has repeatedly noted a dearth of African Americans in the courses, a particularly stark example of the historic achievement gap separating white and black students.

Education leaders regard taking and passing AP tests as a boon to students, increasing the odds of college admission, scholarships and advanced standing.

The Post reviewed AP data from nine of the 10 school systems in the nation with the largest black populations, from New York City, with 115,963 African American students in grades 9 through 12, to Baltimore City, with 22,225. One of the 10, Detroit, declined to provide data. The analysis considered 20 other school systems, all among the 80 largest for black high school populations, that are known for their rigor. The smallest systems studied were Prince William and Anne Arundel, each with about 5,000 black high school students.

The analysis considered the number of passing exams by black students and weighed it against black student enrollment in grades 9 through 12. A score of 3 or higher on the five-point AP scale is considered passing because it is the typical cutoff for credit and advanced standing in college.

Outside the Washington region, no school system analyzed produced more than four passing AP tests for every 100 black high school students -- half the success rate of Montgomery and Fairfax.

"I get very upset when I'm looking at the scores," said Terry Grier, superintendent of schools in Guilford County, N.C., and a national authority on AP. Guilford schools are known for black AP achievement: The system pays for exams, recruits vigorously from the minority student population and, in spring 2006, produced passing tests from African Americans at more than twice the national rate.

Comparing the number of passing tests to the overall student population illustrates a twofold problem: Black students take AP tests at a much lower rate than others, and blacks who take AP tests are less likely to pass -- one-quarter of blacks tested in spring 2006 earned passing grades, well below the overall pass rate of 58 percent in U.S. public schools.

Superintendents, scholars and students point to several factors hindering black students' success in the AP program. Many African Americans are reluctant to enroll in AP courses, particularly if it means being the only minority student in the class. And those who enroll in AP study without adequate preparation might not be ready for the "shock of rigor" in a college-level course, said Trevor Packer, director of the AP program.

Research suggests that black students, who are concentrated in high-poverty, urban school systems, tend to have less effective teachers than those in other schools. Some urban high schools are therefore filled with courses that are AP "in name only," said Daria Hall, a senior policy analyst at Education Trust, a D.C. nonprofit dedicated to closing the achievement gap.

Fairfax schools host programs to identify minority students "who had the ability but might not have the background or the confidence" to aim for AP study, said Faye Brenner, advanced academic program specialist for the system. A Young Scholars program identifies talented minority students in elementary school; a middle school program called Quest prepares minority students for AP courses by teaching study skills and critical thinking. Many high schools offer summer programs to raise minority achievement in AP.

Montgomery high school principals get spreadsheets and sort students by PSAT scores and grade-point averages to identify anyone capable of AP study but not yet enrolled. Half of all African American high school students in the system are enrolled in at least one honors or AP course.

Britney Pope, 18, who graduated this month from Gaithersburg High School, is going to Columbia University in the fall. Like many talented black students, she had a hit-or-miss experience with AP. She took four AP tests before her senior year but passed only one, in world history. She earned scores of 1 or 2, indicating partial mastery, on the others.

For her success in AP world history, Pope credits her teacher: "She came in on Saturdays to prepare us for the exam." For her performance on the other tests, she mostly blames herself.

"I'm just a poor test-taker, period," she said. "It takes more effort from the teacher to get me prepared."