More Texas High School Students Sit for Placement Exams
By Katherine Cromer Brock, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Jul. 27–Nearly one in five Texas high school juniors and seniors took Advanced Placement exams in 2005-2006, about triple the percentage of students who took the college prep exams a decade ago, the Texas Education Agency reported this week.
Competition in the job market and skyrocketing college tuition are driving more students to take high school classes in which they can earn college credit.
About 6.8 percent of Texas students took AP exams in 1994-95, a number that has grown to 18.7 percent, according to the TEA report, titled “Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Examination Results in Texas, 2005-06.”
“More students are wanting these courses,” agency spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said. “School districts are realizing that in order to be competitive and have competitive students, they’re going to have to order these courses.”
The Advanced Placement Program and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program expose high school, and sometimes middle school, students to classes that are more rigorous than the standard curriculum.
The AP program allows students to choose advanced classes in almost any subject. Students who want to receive college credit for the course must take an end-of-course examination. Students who score 3 or higher on a 5-point scale qualify for college credit.
The IB program is more challenging. Students must pass end-of-course tests to earn an IB diploma. In Texas, a student with an IB diploma can enter an in-state university as a sophomore.
“This fact has not been lost on the parents who realize that this credit can be a great assistance in reducing the ever-increasing cost of college,” said Gene Buinger, superintendent of the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district.
About 15 percent of Hispanic students and 10 percent of African-American students took AP tests in 2006, compared with 22 percent of white students and 43 percent of Asian students.
In the H-E-B district, students who take Advanced Placement classes must also take the end-of-course test — at the district’s expense.
“We want the AP courses to be taught at the college level,” Buinger said. “One way of ensuring that is to make every student take the exam. It allows us to hold the teachers accountable for the results.”
In the Fort Worth school district, 2,504 students took 4,829 AP exams in 2006. That’s up from 1999, the first year the advanced academics office was open, when 918 students took 1,886 exams, said Cynthia Sedam, director for advanced academic services.
“In this age of globalization, these kids must have valuable skills,” Sedam said. “When we give the tests, the kids come with this real sense of purpose. It is a very serious event for them. They understand the importance of college testing.”
Sedam said Fort Worth schools are beginning to focus on preparing middle school students to take AP classes in high school. And the district is investigating launching an International Baccalaureate program.
“The kids are really getting a rigorous education when they choose to take these courses,” Sedam said.
AP AND IB BY THE NUMBERS: Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate participation in Texas:
18.7 — Percentage of juniors and seniors who took AP exams in 2005-06, up from 6.8 percent in 1994-95.
50.8 — Percentage of students who took AP exams and qualified to earn college credit.
697 — Number of public school districts and high school charter schools in which students took at least one AP test.
1,135 — Number of schools that offered AP classes in 2005, up from 158 in 1992.
23 — Number of schools in which students took at least one IB examination.
Source: Texas Education Agency
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