Regardless of how they score on the AP exam, however, students receive bonus points on their GPA just for taking the course. Thus, a student receiving a B in an AP course would receive the numerical equivalent of an A on his or her high school report card. It's common for public high schools in affluent neighborhoods to offer a variety of AP courses, often more than a dozen. In contrast, low-income schools, which instruct mostly African American, Latino and, yes, even poor white students, lack the luxury of numerous diverse AP course offerings. Bright low-income students in these schools do not have the chance to earn the astronomical GPAs of their affluent counterparts.
Standardized testing has similar shortcomings.
There exists an entire industry around standardized testing that profits by promising an increase in a student's test score. And often they do. Certainly not the parents of low-income minority children. Let's make a grade for an AP course equal to a grade for a standard course. And let's outlaw that lucrative SAT industry, which sells points to the highest bidder.