By Gene Lucht, Iowa Farmer Today
Nationally, 47.2 percent of rural school districts had no students enrolled in AP courses. The number fell to 5.4 percent for suburban districts and 2.6 percent for urban districts. The New Hampshire researchers found the size of the district wasn’t the only problem. The further the district was from an urbanized area also mattered. And, even where AP classes were offered, small and rural districts had lower levels of both participation and success. It is no secret that smaller districts have a more difficult time finding enough students and teachers to make offering an in-class AP course feasible, Mattingly explains. Rural schools are trying to deal with the problems of size and geography. In Iowa, the state has worked to deal with that problem by offering online AP classes through the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa.
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