Girls’ participation in Advanced Placement Computer Science tests boomed in the past school year—largely thanks to a brand-new, broader course offerings with less of an emphasis on programming.
All in all, about 29,700 girls took either the AP Computer Science A test or an exam that debuted this year, AP Computer Science Principles. More than 111,000 students took the test in all, twice as many as the previous year.
Girls make up 27 percent of the students who sat for one of the computer science tests in 2017, up from 18 percent a decade ago.
