Record Numbers Take Advanced Placement Courses

The College Board reported today that a record 1.17 million students in the high school Class of 2017 took at least one Advanced Placement course. That's up from 1.14 million in one year and far more dramatically over a decade. Of the Class of 2007, 23.9 percent took at least one AP course, but the share is 37.7 percent for the most recent class.

Many more minority students are also taking AP exams and scoring at least a 3 on them (typically the minimum score needed for college credit). But large gaps remain among racial and ethnic groups. For instance, Asian students make up 6 percent of the most recent high school class, but 11.7 percent of the share of that class scoring at least a 3 on an AP exam. Black students make up 14.4 percent of the class and 4.3 percent of those scoring 3 or above.