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AP Computer Science Test Takers Up 8,000; Pass Rate Down 6.8%
theodp (442580) writes "Code.org reports that preliminary data on students who took the Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Exam in 2014 show an increase of 8,276 students over 2013 and represent what the College Board called "the first real indication of progress in AP CS enrollment for women and underserved minorities in years." Girls made up 20% of the 39,393 total test takers, compared to 18.7% of the 31,117 test takers in 2013. Black or African American students saw their share increase by 0.19%, from 3.56% to 3.75% (low, but good enough to crush Twitter). Code.org credits the increased enrollment to its celebrity-studded CS promo film starring Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg ("I even made a personal bet (reflected in my contractual commitment to Code.org donors) that our video could help improve the seemingly immovable diversity numbers in computer science," Code.org founder Hadi Partovi notes). However, some of the increase is likely attributable to the other efforts of Code.org's donors. Microsoft ramped up its TEALS AP CS program in 2013-2014, and — more significantly — Google helped boost AP CS study not only through its CS4HS program, but also by funding the College Board's AP STEM Access program, which offered $5 million to schools and teachers to encourage minority and female students to enroll in AP STEM courses. This summer, explains the College Board, "All AP STEM teachers in the participating schools (not just the new AP STEM teachers), who increase diversity in their class, receive a [$100] DonorsChoose.org gift card for each student in the course who receives a 3, 4, or 5 on the AP Exam." The bad news for AP CS teachers anticipating Google "Excellence Funding" bounties (for increasing course enrollment and completion "by at least five underrepresented students") is that AP CS pass rates decreased to 60.8% in 2014 (from 67.6% in 2013), according to Total Registration. Using these figures and a back-of-the-envelope calculation, while enrollment saw a 26.6% increase over last year, the total number of students passing increased by 13.9%."
So they've found that encouraging students to take CS courses based on their skin color or genitals is less effective than encouraging students who have an interest or aptitude for the subject? Gee, I never would have guessed that result.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
I googled for "ap computer science" and this came up
No Girls, Blacks, or Hispanics Take AP Computer Science Exam in Some States
You tell teachers they'll be paid if more people pass a test. So they encourage more of their students to take it. Many of those aren't ready, they're just hoping they'll pass for a payout. So the pass rate goes down, as the majority of additional takers weren't capable. Yup, statistics work.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
The last nail in the coffin was when I trained a "more qualified" H1-b about "what those asterisks mean in C programming".
He was just asking for a few pointers.
You can already see some politically incorrect numbers.
AP CS student demographics from the first link in the summary.
- 31.4% Asian
- 3.8% Black
- 8.4% Hispanic
- 0.3% Native American
- 50.5% non-Hispanic White
Compare to current US demographics from the Census Bureau
http://quickfacts.census.gov/q...
- 5.3% Asian
- 13.2% Black
- 17.1% Hispanic
- 1.2% Native American
- 62.6% non-Hispanic White
It looks like every race except Asian is under-represented.
Is this evidence of systemic oppression by USA's Asian-American overlords?
Are White people so hateful they'd rather cut themselves to spite the Black and Brown people?
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
Am I the only one who caught that dereference?
Citation Please.
[John]
Shit better not happen!
As a plain, fact-ignoring statistic, yes. Women and men that actively follow comparable career paths have the same salaries. Of course, if you, say, take a 2 year timeout for having kids, that negatively affects your salary and your skills. But gender gap in pay in CS is a myth, which becomes obvious as soon as you look at the actual data. The Issue is that many women chose to offer less value to employers. And that is quite fine and, I expect, what they consider is the best option. It does come with a price though.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
"especially if they're a woman or brown" because they are very afraid of being sued for not hiring every one of those that walks through the door because so few are walking through the door. you know, you are discriminating because only 25% of your workforce is x when in society the ratio is 50%. Never mind that they aren't hiring from the general population, they are hiring from those that apply. The problem is that lawyers are stupid and expensive.
Gender gap anywhere is a myth unless you fail to control for variables (such as you mentioned) or add in all kinds of extras to force it.
According to most of the political correct types, yes, Whitey is that bad.