Arkansas Advanced Placement Scores Rise

More Arkansas students took Advanced Placement (AP) courses in the 2011-12 school year than in the previous year, and they performed better on the test.

According to the Arkansas Department of Education, the College Board, which administers the test, reported Monday (Sept. 24) that the number of Arkansas AP test-takers in 2012 was 22,857, a 7.4 percent increase from the year before, when 21,280 took it. The number of tests administered rose 8.6 percent from 36,241 to 39,548. Some students took more than one AP test.

Scoring a 3, 4, or 5 on the test earns a student college credit. In Arkansas, the number of students achieving those scores rose 11.8 percent from 10,949 in 2011 to 12,241 in 2012.

The number of African-American test-takers scoring at least a 3 was 469, an increase of 123.3 percent from 2007. This past year, 3,069 African-American students in Arkansas (13.4 percent of test takers) took 4,964 exams.

The number of Hispanic students scoring a 3 or above increased to 813, an increase of 133.6 percent since 2007. This past year, 1,696 Hispanic students took 2,945 exams.

According to Mary Stein, Arkansas Department of Education program coordinator at the Office of Gifted and Talented and Advanced Placement, Arkansas has instituted AP teacher training and is the only state that pays for every student to take AP tests – $79 for most students; $53 for students eligible for free and reduced lunch rates.

The state also has seen success with its Advanced Initiative for Math and Science (AIMS), which offers students a $100 Visa gift card for each AP course in which they score a 3 or better,. Teachers get $100 gift cards for each student who qualifies and receive bonuses of up to $3,000 depending on the increase in the number from the previous year.

AIMS schools produced 43 percent of successful test-takers in Arkansas last year, despite existing in only 39 high schools.

Stein said the rising scores are impressive considering they also accompany rising participation rates. “You’d think with more kids taking the exams, statistically your scores shouldn’t keep going up,” she said. “You’ve got to be doing something right, and I think it’s the teacher expectations are different because they’ve been trained.”

The College Board also released scores for the 2012 SAT Reasoning Test.

The test is not required by most Arkansas colleges, so statewide participation is low. Only 994 public school students took the test.

Mean scores in critical reading in all schools, public and private, fell to 565, three points lower than in 2011. Math scores fell from 568 to 566, compared to a nationwide score of 532. Writing scores fell from 554 to 549.