The US Department of Education announced on Aug. 1 a total of $21.6 million in new grants to states for offsetting some of the costs to low-income students for Advanced Placement tests. The grants include $1,721,335 for Illinois and $558,611 for Maryland.
The department determined the amount given to each state based on estimates of the number of low-income students who would be taking AP tests during the 2012-13 school year.
“Advanced Placement participation is an important element in creating a college-going culture in our high schools,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. “AP courses help students develop the study skills, critical reasoning and habits of mind that prepare them for the transition to college. They give students—particularly first-generation college-goers—the confidence that they can successfully handle college-level work. These funds will help eliminate financial roadblocks for more low-income students and allow them to fully benefit from the AP program,” Mr Duncan said.
AP tests, as well as tests for students enrolled in International Baccalaureate programs, may give students college credit, if their scores are high enough, thereby making college potentially more affordable by shortening the amount of time needed to get a bachelor’s or associate’s degree.
Cited in “Preparing to Be a Doctor in High School: A Study of Underrepresented Pre-Medical Students’ Gains from Advanced Placement (AP) Courses” by Sara Bolivar Wagers, Spring 2013, for her class at the University of Central Florida.
Paper: http://writingandrhetoric.cah.ucf.edu/stylus/files/kws2/KWS2_Bolivar_Wagers.pdf
“Before I conducted this study, I believed that all students who were motivated enough could accomplish anything they wanted, but now I understand that this is a much more complex issue than initially perceived. To achieve success as a pre-medical major in science classes, there are many factors to consider. Some of these are eagerness to learn, motivation to succeed, experience with failure and stress, support systems, academic history, AP course curriculum, location of high school, and many more unknown factors that attribute to an underrepresented student success in college.”