Educators and students around the nation are celebrating the completion this year’s Computer Science Advanced Placement (AP) Exam. Students are mostly celebrating the fact that it's over, but teachers are excited that data (released from Code.org this morning) indicates a record number of students, in particular girls and minorities, taking the exam.
According to data from College Board and Code.org, the Computer Science Principles AP course had 111,262 test takers, including 29,708 girls and 22,199 underrepresented minorities taking the exam—an increase of over 100 percent since 2016 for both groups. Leaders see this as a positive sign for nonprofit groups such as Code.org and Girls Who Code who center their missions around supporting underrepresented groups in Computer Science education. We took a peek at Twitter to gauge reactions from the education community.
This morning, Code.org shared a dramatic chart showcasing the improvements.
Girls set AP Computer Science record…their skyrocketing growth outpaces boys! https://t.co/AAuwk6RqcU pic.twitter.com/55ajN2REMA
— Code.org (@codeorg) July 18, 2017
Students and teachers expressed feelings of excitement and relief at their results.
adding "passing the AP Computer Science Exam" to my accomplishments on my resume
— Allie Maples (@AllieMaples) July 7, 2017
I actually passed my AP Computer Science and AP lit exam. I'm shocked.
— julie (@Cosmic_Julie) July 9, 2017
For what I believe is the 1st time ever, all passed the AP CS exam. Kudos to Andrews K and M, Brian, and Xujie. #MHSS4CS @STEMPathway
— Mr. Kretsch (@MrKretsch) July 5, 2017
Government officials also shared their approval.
10 years ago, 2,600 girls took the AP CS exam. In 2017, 29,000 girls took AP CS. Now THAT is progress, ladies!!👊 https://t.co/TItEBP0hDk
— Kristen Titus (@kristentitus) July 18, 2017
Even before the results were out, there was a round of Twitter applause for students who trailblazed in their schools.
Proud of this group for being the first ever class to take the AP Computer Science Principles exam @PlymouthSch pic.twitter.com/ba9vZejOGc
— John Jardin (@mrjardin_PSHS) May 5, 2017
Important milestone for CS education: today more than 50,000 students are taking the new AP Computer Science Principles exam. #CSforAll
— Patricia Garcia (@thebigfiveone) May 5, 2017
Some good news: Today ~ 30,000 high school students will take the new AP Computer Science exam for the first time #CSforAll
— Kristin Lee (@kristindlee) May 5, 2017
Another confident student about to take the AP Computer Science Principles exam!! Historic moment! pic.twitter.com/tuBRAAQpBB
— Mr. Hastings (@Hastings_MMHS) May 5, 2017
