By Edith Phillips
The latest city data has revealed that the number of city public-school students taking and passing the college-credit Advanced Placement exams increased in 2010 compared to 2009. According to the data, more than 15,000 students passed at least one AP exam last year with a score of 3 or higher on a 5-point scale. The increase of 11.6 percent is definitely pleasing. The data also showed that the number of students who took an AP exam last year also jumped by 10.7 percent compared to 2009.
The pass rate of the city has also gone up changing a two-year slide. In 2009, the pass rate was 51.1 percent, while it went up to 51.9 percent last year. "These results show that our work on college readiness is already bearing fruit, and our students should be proud of their achievements," Schools Chancellor Cathie Black said in a statement.
The data revealed that the pass rate among the Asian students was 65.1 percent rate, while it was 62.7 percent among white students. In 2010, Hispanic students had a 43.1 percent AP pass rate, while it was 26.9 for black students.
In New York, around 8,000 New York City high school seniors, or about 15 percent, passed at least one Advanced Placement exam. It is to b noted that when in 2002, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took control of the school system, about 6,000 students passed at least one Advanced Placement test.
Referring to the results, Cathleen P. Black, the schools chancellor, said, “These results show that our work on college-readiness is already bearing fruit, and our students should be proud of their achievements. But, we have to do much more work to ensure all of our students are ready to succeed in college.”
