Wisconsin Advanced Placement Participation Continues to Climb

From the Department of Public Instruction

A record 20% of Wisconsin public school students took Advanced Placement exams in 2003-04, and 13.7% passed at least one AP exam, according to data released Tuesday (January 25, 2005) by The College Board. Nationally, 13.2% of all high school graduates earned at least one passing grade on an AP exam.

Participation by Wisconsin students of color increased 27.7% in 2003-04. The biggest jumps in participation were for African-American students, up 50.7%, and American Indian students, up 39.3%.

A record 17,768 state public school students took 27,768 Advanced Placement (AP) exams, offered through The College Board, during the 2003-04 school year. In the previous school year, 16,034 Wisconsin public school students took 25,141 AP exams. Nationally, 912,733 public school students took 1,557,951 exams.

Students earning a grade of 3-5 on the exams are eligible for college-level credit at most colleges and universities. In 2004, 68.6% of Wisconsin public school students taking the tests earned passing scores compared to 68.0% in 2003. Nationally in 2004, 59.7% of public school students passed their AP exams.

“We can be proud that so many of our students made the extra effort to take Advance Placement classes, because it shows their dedication to academic studies that will help them succeed in postsecondary education," said State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster. "College admissions committees view coursework as a key indicator of academic motivation and achievement. We must increase access to AP classes to all parts of Wisconsin.”

The state superintendent’s proposed 2005-07 education budget includes a provision to provide incentive grants to the 25% of public high schools that do not provide AP classes because of small school enrollments or lack of AP-qualified teachers.

“Our goal is to continue working with partners in the Wisconsin education community through distance learning, on-line delivery, and other support and outreach methods to make Advanced Placement coursework available to any student who wants to take the classes,” Burmaster said.

The complete DPI news release, with charts (this link opens a pdf file)

Posted January 25, 2005