Foundation Offers Cash Awards to Minority Students Who Score High on Advanced Placement Tests

Studies from The College Board show that black high school students are far less likely to take honors and advanced placement courses which would better prepare them for college entrance examinations and for the rigors of a college curriculum. Now the Pershing Square Foundation is trying a new approach to encourage black and other minority students to take these challenging courses.

Students at 25 predominantly black or Hispanic high schools and six parochial schools with large numbers of minority students in New York City have been selected for a pilot program which will give cash awards to students who perform well on Advanced Placement examinations. A student who receives the best possible score of 5 on an AP test will receive $1,000. A score of 4 will generate a cash award of $750 and a score of 3 will produce a $500 reward. Students can take several AP examinations in any given year and cash awards can be won on each test. (Foreign language AP examinations are excluded because, for some students, English is not their first language.)

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