Results from latest AP Report

U.S. Public Schools: High School Class of 2009

Percentage of Students Scoring a 3

or Higher on an AP Exam During High School

This from the College Board:

Across the nation, educators and policymakers are helping a wider segment of the U.S. student population experience success in AP (see Table 1)

15.9 percent of the public school graduating class of 2009 had access to an AP experience that resulted in a score of 3 or higher — the score research shows to be indicative of students learning at levels that increase the likelihood of success in college. This achievement represents a significant and consistent improvement since the class of 2004, when 12.7 percent of graduates had experienced success in AP. Eighteen states equaled or exceeded the national percentage of 15.9 percent.

Increasing numbers of African American, Latino and American Indian students are participating in AP, but these students remain underserved (see Figure 2)

Hispanic or Latino students represent 15.9 percent of the public school graduating class of 2009, and 15.5 percent of the AP examinee population.

Black or African American students represent 14.5 percent of the public school graduating class of 2009, and 8.2 percent of the AP examinee population.

American Indian or Alaska Native students represent 1.2 percent of the public school graduating class of 2009, and 0.6 percent of the AP examinee population.

A number of individual public schools are recognized in the report because they have the largest number of African American and/or Latino students from the class of 2009 experiencing success in particular AP subjects. See Table 3 for details.

This year’s report shows the racial/ethnic demographics of the total graduating class compared to the racial/ethnic demographics of the AP population scoring a 3 or higher on an AP Exam (See Table 2). An equity and excellence gap appears when
traditionally underserved students comprise a smaller percentage of the successful student group than the percentage these students represent in the graduating class.

18 states have closed the equity and excellence gap for American Indian or Alaska Native students.

16 states have closed the equity and excellence gap for Hispanic or Latino students.
2 states have closed the equity and excellence gap for Black or African American students. More low-income students are participating and experiencing success in AP than ever before:

18.9 percent of AP examinees from the graduating class of 2009 were low-income students, up from 17.0 percent in the class of 2008 and 13.7 percent in the class of 2004.

Low-income students made up 14.7 percent of the students experiencing success in AP from the graduating class of 2009, compared to 13.4 percent from the class of 2008 and 11.7 percent from the class of 2004.

See State Reports for details.

Note: Because the number of low-income students in the total graduating class is not available, we are unable to report on equity and excellence gaps, as defined above, for low-income students.

AP participation up, Scores not so much

The number of students taking Advanced Placement tests hit a record high last year, but the portion who fail the exams — particularly in the South — is rising as well, a USA TODAY analysis finds. (Failure rate for AP tests climbing)

Hat tip to Alexander Russo.

Kentucky Students Improve on A.P. Tests

This from Ryan Alessi at the Herald-Leader:

But trail the national average

Kentucky is tied for 31st in the percentage of students who passed at least one advance-placement exam in high school last year, according to the College Board's annual report.

Ten percent of public high school students in Kentucky and Indiana scored at least a 3 on an A.P. exam in 2008, which was below the national average of 15.2 percent. But that's steady improvement for Kentucky since 2003, when 7 percent of students passed at least one A.P. exam...

Blacks Less Likely to Take A.P. Exam

This form the New York Times:

More than 15 percent of the three million students who graduated from public high schools last year passed at least one Advanced Placement exam, the College Board said Wednesday, but African-American students were still far less likely to have passed, or to even have taken, an A.P. exam than white, Hispanic or Asian students.

In its fifth annual report on its A.P. program, the College Board said the program was growing steadily. More than 460,000 students, or 15.2 percent, passed an A.P. exam last year, compared with 14.1 percent in 2007 and 12.2 percent five years ago.

But the program is not spreading evenly across the nation. In Mississippi and Louisiana, fewer than 4 percent of high school graduates passed an A.P. exam last year, and in 17 other states, fewer than 10 percent passed one...

For First Time, Students in SREB States Pass AP Exams at the Same Rate as the Nation

ATLANTA — The percentage of seniors who passed at least one Advanced Placement exam in the 16 Southern Regional Education Board states in 2007 matched the national rate for the first time, a new SREB report shows.

"This is a milestone for SREB states," said Joan Lord, SREB’s vice president of Education Policies.

A new SREB policy brief, SREB States Continue to Lead the Nation in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs, shows that 15 percent of graduating high school seniors in 2007 had passed at least one AP exam during high school. The score of 3 or higher is considered "passing" because most colleges award course credit to students who achieve the score or higher.

The report shows that SREB states continue to lead the nation in student participation in AP and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. Student participation and success in these academically rigorous high school programs continues to grow across the region.

Three SREB states — Florida, Maryland and Virginia — were in the top five nationally in 2007 in the percentage of graduates who took and passed at least one AP exam in high school.

Maryland also recorded the second-greatest increase — 6 percentage points — of graduating seniors scoring a 3 or higher on at least one AP exam from 2002 to 2007. In total, 15 SREB states increased the percentage of graduating seniors scoring a 3 or higher on at least one AP exam since 2002.

The percentage of graduating seniors taking at least one AP exam rose by 9 percentage points from 2002 to 2007 — outpacing the national rate of increase. Every SREB state increased its participation rate over the five-year period.

SREB states also continue to lead the nation in access and success of Hispanic students in AP courses. The rate of participation of Hispanic students in AP courses in most SREB states now equals or exceeds the proportion of Hispanic students in the overall student population of high school graduates.

The percentage of Hispanic students who scored a 3 or higher on at least one AP exam increased in most SREB states from 2002 to 2007. In fact, 12 SREB states closed the gap between the percentage of Hispanic students in the overall high school graduate population and the percentage of those students who passed at least one AP exam.

Many SREB states also increased the participation and performance rates of black students in AP classes from 2002 to 2007. In fact, the percentage of black graduating seniors scoring a 3 or higher on at least one AP exam in the SREB region is twice the national rate.

In addition, the number of IB schools continues to grow throughout the SREB region and the nation. In 2007, 502 U.S. high schools offered the IB curriculum, an increase of 19 percent since 2005. Of these schools, 44 percent — 221 total schools — were in SREB states.

SREB's Challenge to Lead Goals for Education, adopted in 2002, call for all high school students to have solid academic preparation for college and careers. SREB endorses AP and IB as a way to provide challenging, engaging course work. The goals call for all SREB states to have AP and IB enrollment and passing rates that exceed national averages.

The report calls for open access to AP and/or IB courses to every student in every school and for extra support for students from underrepresented groups in these courses. States also can use state virtual schools to increase access to AP/IB courses and pay testing fees for students from low-income families.

Training more teachers who can effectively teach these courses and bonuses for teachers and schools also may help states improve AP and IB access and passing rates.

SOURCE: SREB press release

For Those Who Would Better Understand the ACT

KSN&C, and I suspect a lot of folks, got a note from Prichard Committee honcho Bob Sexton today regarding the ACT test results recently kicked around in the press.

The media coverage, and occasionally comments from school officials, badly confused what the ACT is and is not and how scores should be used and should not be used.

To bring some scholarly understanding to this misinformation about ACT, Ben Oldham, Distinguished Service Professor at Georgetown College, has written the attached statement.

Here's Ben's article:

September 24, 2008

Adding Understanding to the ACT scores

Ben R. Oldham
Distinguished Service Professor
Georgetown College

The recent release of statewide ACT scores has created a lot of discussion about the quality of Kentucky schools. It has been reported that approximately 43,000 Kentucky juniors earned an average of an 18.3 composite score out of 36 on the ACT. Kentucky is one of just five states that requires the ACT for all high school juniors. It should be noted that the American College Test (ACT) is a highly regarded test developed by a cadre of some of the best measurement professionals in the world and is used by a number of colleges as one selection-for-admission measure.

Extensive research has been conducted that suggests that the ACT is a significant predictor of freshman college grades. The ACT is designed to predict college success. My research suggests that high school grade point average is a similar predictor of college success. Since the ACT is administered to all Kentucky juniors, there is a tendency to over-interpret the results as a measure of the success of Kentucky schools. The successes of Kentucky education reform are inevitably brought into question.

Other evidence tells a different story. More students in Kentucky are taking AP exams and more students are earning college credit through the Advanced Placement program than ever before. These are standards-based exams. The purpose of these tests is to determine, by following a tightly structured curriculum, if students earn high enough scores to earn college credit while still in high school. Teachers know precisely what should be taught and through their excellent instruction more high school seniors earned college credit.

The Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) is administered throughout the grades of Kentucky’s public schools. Like AP tests, the KCCT assessments are standards-based exams. Teachers in Kentucky’s schools teach from a core content that defines what Kentucky students should know and be able to do as they progress through school. Like the AP test, the KCCT is designed to precisely measure how well the students have mastered the defined curriculum. The categories of novice, apprentice and distinguished are used to define the achievement of students. Its purpose is to monitor the growth of schools toward a Commonwealth goal of the average student achieving at the proficient level by 2014.

It is desirable for large numbers of students to achieve at the highest levels of achievement on both the AP and KCCT tests. Having small and reducing numbers of students at the lowest levels of achievement is also desirable. Here is where the difference with the ACT and standards-based tests lies. The ACT is a norm-based test. It is not designed to determine what students know and are able to do like the AP test or KCCT test. A norm-based test compares a student’s performance on a bank of test questions with students in a comparison group; in this case a national but not nationally representative comparison group since its purpose is for the college-bound. By design, the ACT spreads student scores to assist colleges and universities in making admission and scholarship decisions. When the ACT was developed, the average score was set at 20 regardless of the academic achievement of those in the norm group. If it were the case that everyone in the national comparison group scored at a high level, the mean score would be 20. If nearly all scored at a low level on the ACT, the mean would be 20. The purpose of the ACT is to assist colleges and
universities in making admission decisions. By design it separates students into a range of scores from the 1st percentile to the 99th percentile regardless of the pure academic achievement.

Because it is administered to students across the country, the ACT is designed to be insensitive to curriculum to not give an advantage to any particular curriculum. This is another major difference. Both the AP and the KCCT are built around a tightly defined curriculum. Because the ACT is insensitive to school curricula many employ the test-taking strategies to artificially inflate test scores. It should not be quick and easy process to improve test scores because it does not reflect true improvement. However, given a defined curriculum, public school teachers have done and will continue to do an exemplary job educating students toward a common goal. Are there improvement strategies that can be employed? Absolutely, but the ACT does not contribute to these strategies because the ACT must, by design, separate students to assist colleges in selection decisions.

Teachers, parents, principals, superintendents, board of education members, and most importantly students must not overlook this purpose. While it is important, schools should not be evaluated using a tool that is insensitive to the core content and is designed to differentiate between the higher-achieving college-bound.

If the purpose of Kentucky public schools is to prepare all elementary and secondary school students for college, then the core content followed by schools needs to be adjusted with significant input from college professors to include things like the thoughtful analysis of data and ideas, explaining and demonstrating math solutions and a solid foundation in the college general education curriculum. Regardless, the evaluation of the achievement of the core content must be measured by a test that determines the success in achieving that curriculum rather than a norm-based instrument, like the ACT, that merely compares a student’s performance with college-bound students nation-wide.

Advance Placement success rises with enrollment

The Kentucky Department of Education recently released statistics showing that the number of the state's public high schoolers taking AP entrance exams - and scoring high on them - continues to rise...

...the National Governors Association awarded grants of $500,000 each to Kentucky and five other states to increase their success rates in AP courses.

Kentucky focused on increasing student and teacher preparation for AP and expanding AP offerings. Educators' thinking was that many students who wouldn't ordinarily take AP entrance exams would do well on them.

Statewide, the number of AP test-takers has risen from 9,688 in 2004 to 13,246 this year. The number of those scoring a 3, 4 or 5 - making them eligible for college credit - rose from 6,951 in 2004 to 9,913 this year.

"The data primarily tell us that more students have access to AP courses, which means that schools are doing a good job of making sure that all students are aware of them and encouraged to participate," Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman Lisa Gross explained. "That's been a statewide goal for a number of years, and the trend data shows that we're making progress."

The gains on AP class participation should help in the state's goal of getting the rate of Kentuckians in college to the national average by 2020.

The drive to get more kids into AP classes actually is two decades old in the commonwealth. In 1987, the Kentucky Board of Education established the Commonwealth Diploma Program to encourage Kentucky's high school students to take rigorous courses that would improve their chances of succeeding in college. Criteria for the diploma include successful completion of at least four AP courses - English, science or mathematics, foreign language and one additional AP course - and completion of at least three AP exams.

Senate Bill 74, passed by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2002, required the development of a core AP curriculum and the expansion of access to AP courses through the Kentucky Virtual High School.

Currently, 34 AP courses are offered in Kentucky, including art history, biology, chemistry, English literature, United States history, physics and statistics...

This from the Cincinnati Post.

Kentucky students take more Advanced Placement classes, score higher

A record number of high school students in Kentucky took Advanced Placement exams this year -- and scored higher than ever before -- according to data released this week by the College Board.

This spring, 15,408 students across the state took at least one test -- and more than half of those tests earned a score of 3, 4 or 5, with 5 being the highest score. The number of test takers is up 13 percent over last year, and the number of those scoring a 3 or higher is up 8 percent.

The number of state test takers includes nearly 2,000 who attended private schools or were home-schooled.

Lisa Gross, spokeswoman for the state Education Department, said the public school results have generated excitement.

"Kentucky's public schools have worked hard over the past few years to open up access to AP courses for all students and made great efforts to improve the quality and rigor of those courses," Gross said, adding that the latest scores show students "are getting the content they need to do well on the tests."

Students who take AP courses are exposed to a more rigorous curriculum and then can take an AP exam in an attempt to get college credit. How much credit students earn depends on their score and which college or university they attend -- though most award some credit if the student scores a 3 or higher...

This from the Courier-Journal.

Thousands in Louisville to grade AP exams

Thousands of educators are in Louisville this week grading more than a million essays completed by high school students across the country.

The grading is being done on Advanced Placement tests given in May by the New York City-based College Board, a nonprofit group that manages and administers various standardized tests.

The College Board selected Louisville and the Kentucky International Convention Center as its largest grading site last August. ...The graders have used all the available 300,000 square feet of space at the convention center.

This from the Courier-Journal.