A test of critical thinking: Why don’t all AP students take AP tests?

“Ten years ago, leaders of the Houston Independent School District knew that college-level Advanced Placement tests had become prime motivators of deep learning. Yet fewer than half of the Hispanic and African American students who were the majority in that system were getting a chance to experience those exams. So Houston leaders did something daring. They announced that every student who took an AP course would also take the AP test, more than three hours long and graded by independent experts. The district would pay the fees.”