Inequalities in the Academic Benefits of the Advanced Placement Program

The Advanced Placement Program was established during the Cold War to give advanced students early exposure to college-level material under the guise of increasing competitiveness with the Soviets. Since 2000, however, the number of AP exams taken throughout the United States has swelled to more than five million annually (College Board 2018), leaving many to question the effectiveness of the program. This paper uses district-level data from Ohio high schools to analyze the disparities in outcome resulting from the divide between high-income and low-income schools in access to AP courses. Using a fixed-effects model, we argue that an increase in AP participation rates in low-income districts does not significantly affect future college enrollment rates. The percentage of students scoring 3 or above on the AP exam, however, does have a positive effect on college enrollment rates, suggesting that disparities in course quality have a distinct effect on outcomes. Finally, we argue that AP participation has a significant effect on college completion rates for high-income schools but not for low-income schools, which again suggests that course quality is a more important determinant than course quantity, or the simple introduction of more AP courses to a district’s curriculum.No embargoAcademic Major: Economic