February 13, 2006	Volume 5, Number 4

More students take Advanced Placement exams

Wisconsin’s progress in offering rigorous high school coursework through Advanced Placement (AP) continued with more students taking AP exams in 2005 than in the previous school year. The one-year increase in overall participation was 6.3 percent, and participation by students of color climbed by 8.8 percent.

“We can be proud of the growth in AP participation and of the diligence of our students in achieving success on these exams,” said State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster. “Students who take Advanced Placement coursework experience the rigor of college-level studies and gain a competitive advantage when passing the end-of-year AP exam, because they earn college-level credit for their efforts.”

During the 2004-05 school year, 18,896 Wisconsin public school students took 29,890 AP exams. In the previous year, 17,768 students took 27,984 AP exams. In Wisconsin, 67.2 percent of students who took AP exams earned a grade of 3-5 on the exams, which is considered passing and eligible for college credit at most colleges and universities.

In the College Board’s second annual Advanced Placement Report to the Nation, an analysis that looks at AP based on graduates who take an exam during their high school career, Wisconsin had 12,878 public school graduates in the class of 2005 participating in AP. This represents a one-year increase of 4.8 percent in the number of graduates taking an AP exam, and a 44.6 percent increase over five years.

“Every student should have access to Advanced Placement coursework regardless of where they live,” stated Burmaster. “To meet that goal and continue our efforts to close the achievement gap, we have some important efforts under way to expand AP opportunities to students throughout the state.”

The 2005-07 state budget included $200,000 for Burmaster’s initiative to provide incentive grants to start AP programming in the 25 percent of public high schools that do not currently offer AP classes. Additionally, the Department of Public Instruction recently won a competitive National Governors Association grant focused on increasing AP course offerings. Participants in the NGA grant, which partners one urban and eight rural districts, have begun work on starting or expanding AP offerings for urban and rural students.

U.S. History was the most popular AP course in Wisconsin last year, with 4,257 public school students taking the exam. Next in popularity was English Literature and Composition taken by 4,039 public school AP students. The highest passing rates occurred in Calculus BC (81.5 percent) and Psychology (79.0 percent).

Tables that provide additional background about Advanced Placement in Wisconsin are available following the complete press release.

Last updated on 2/13/2006