Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/245703 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14652
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Millions of high school students who take an Advanced Placement (AP) course in one of over 30 subjects can earn college credit by performing well on the corresponding AP exam. Using data from four metro-Atlanta public school districts, we find that 15 percent of students' AP courses do not result in an AP exam. We predict that up to 32 percent of the AP courses that do not result in an AP exam would result in a score of 3 or higher, which generally commands college credit at colleges and universities across the United States. Next, we examine disparities in AP exam-taking rates by demographics and course taking patterns. Most immediately policy relevant, we find evidence consistent with the positive impact of school district exam subsidies on AP exam-taking rates. In fact, students on free and reduced-price lunch (FRL) in the districts that provide a higher subsidy to FRL students than non-FRL students are more likely to take an AP exam than their non-FRL counterparts, after controlling for demographic and academic covariates.
Subjects: 
educational economics
advanced placement
high school coursework
JEL: 
I22
I20
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
818.02 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.