Why Success Academy is going all in on the APs — disadvantaged students deserve to be prepared for college

At Success Academy, we’re going all in on Advanced Placement exams.

We had to rent room at the Javits Center to have the space needed for our 1,317 students taking AP exams this year.

And beginning next year, our primarily low-income students will be required to take at least 13 AP classes starting with pre-calculus and English in ninth grade.

To be sure, these tests are challenging.

The New York Times recently reported that low-income students only score well enough on these tests to earn college credit 40% of the time.

But that’s no reason to abandon these tests, which can play an important role in ensuring students enter college ready to do college-level work.