Md. is No. 1 in number of graduates who pass AP exams - baltimoresun.com: For the fourth year in a row, Maryland ranked No. 1 in the nation in the percentage of its graduating seniors who had successfully passed the rigorous Advanced Placement exams, leaping further ahead of top states like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Twenty-nine percent of last year's graduating seniors had passed one Advanced Placement test by the time they walked across the stage last spring, or almost double the percentage of a decade ago and more than one percentage point higher than 2010. The national average was 18 percent.
...Maryland, like other states, has been unable to provide the same access
to AP tests for poor and black students. Only 8 percent of
African-American graduates in Maryland had passed an AP test, compared
to 35 percent of white students. Among those black students who did take
the test, only 28 percent were able to pass, while 70 percent of white
students who took the test passed.
Sadusky said he is particularly concerned that some rural school
districts, including Dorchester and Wicomico counties, do not have
enough money to offer Advanced Placement classes to students. "Those
students need to have the equal opportunity," he said.