Arizona AP students, scores increase

The Arizona Department of Education announced The 9th Annual AP® Report to the Nation and Arizona’s Class of 2012 Advanced Placement results. The Report finds that more Arizona public high school graduates than ever before are participating, and succeeding, in college-level AP courses and exams.

Over the last decade, progress has also been made to increase AP participation and success among Arizona’s underserved minority and low-income students. For 2002 to 2012 there has been a steady increase in both participation and scores of 3 and above on AP tests among African American, Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native students.

Low-income students have shown the same trend from 2007 to 2012.

Each year, the College Board honors three districts in the nation — one large, one medium and one small — with the AP District of the Year Award, in recognition of their ability to expand access to AP while simultaneously increasing the percentage of students earning a 3 or higher on AP Exams. Recently, Glendale Union High School District was named recipient of the 2012-2013 AP District of the Year award (medium). “Glendale Union did it in some very deliberate ways,” stated Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Deputy Superintendent of Programs and Policy for the Arizona Department of Education. “It wasn’t magic; it wasn’t an accident. They made very purposeful decisions that led them down this road. The district has a vested interest in both increasing enrollment and increasing success.”

With a few exceptions like Tucson’s largest district; TUSD, schools across the state have made deliberate efforts to increase student achievement by dropping failed policies like social promotion.

Succeeding in AP is defined as achieving a score of 3 or higher on the five-point AP Exam scale, which is the score needed for credit, advanced placement or both at the majority of colleges and universities.

Over the last decade, there has been a steady increase in AP participation and success in Arizona:

• The number of public school graduates leaving high school having taken an AP Exam in Arizona has increased by 182 percent in the last decade.

• More graduates in the Arizona class of 2012 scored a 3 or higher on at least one AP Exam than took AP Exams in 2002.

• 17.4 percent of graduates from Arizona’s public high school class of 2012 took at least one AP Exam during high school, compared to 12.8 percent from the class of 2007 and 10.8 percent from the class of 2002.

• 10.0 percent of graduates from Arizona’s public high school class of 2012 scored a 3 or higher on at least one AP Exam during high school, compared to 7.7 percent from the class of 2007 and 7.0 percent from the class of 2002.