LITTLE ROCK — More Arkansas students took the rigorous Advanced Placement exams last spring than in any year previously, and more students earned scores high enough on those exams in 2012 to receive college credit, state officials said Monday.
The state showed a 7.4 percent increase in the number of Advanced Placement test-takers and an 11.8 increase in the number of scores of 3, 4 or 5 on the tests in 2012 compared with the previous year. Scores of 3 or higher on the tests typically qualify students for college hours or placement in advanced college courses for their high school work.
“We have had phenomenal results,” Mary Kathryn Stein, Arkansas Education Department program coordinator for gifted and talented education and Advanced Placement, said Monday about the program that is intended to improve college-going and graduation rates in a state where fewer than 20 percent of adults have a college degree.
To that end, Arkansas is the only state in the nation that pays the Advanced Placement test fees for all public school students who take Advanced Placement courses.
“It’s amazing what has been done because of the really forward progressive legislation in this area,” Stein said. “This is something Arkansans can pat themselves on the back about.”
State education officials released the results of the 2012 Advanced Placement program and at the same time they released the state’s SAT college-entrance exam results for the Class of 2012. Those results showed a 3-point to 6-point drop in averages for the relatively small number - 1,320 students - who took the college-entrance test.
Arkansas students, however, continued to score above the national average on the test that is generally taken by students who plan to attend out-of-state colleges, including the nation’s elite universities.
The Advanced Placement program, in which high school students take one or more college-level courses and accompanying year-end exams while in high school, affects larger numbers of state students.
A total of 22,857 Arkansas high school students took the college-level tests last spring, a 7.4 percent increase over the number of Arkansas students taking tests the year before. Nationally, there was a 6.4 percent increase in test takers.
The number of Advanced Placement exams administered last spring increased 8.6 percent to 39,548. That compares with a 7 percent increase in exams administered nationally.
And the number of exams receiving a score of 3 and above increased 11.8 percent to 12,241. Nationally, there was a 9.7 percent increase in qualifying scores from one year to the next.
Despite the increase in the scores of 3 or better, 31 percent of the 39,548 tests given resulted in a qualifying score.
Still, Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell welcomed the progress made by students. He called the larger numbers of students who took the exams and the increased number of students who achieved qualifying scores “evidence that Arkansas students are embracing the rigorous coursework” and learning “what it means to be ready for college and careers.”
Arkansas spent almost $2.8 million on Advanced Placement test fees for the 2011-12 school year and will now send to the school districts another $50 for each earned score of 3 or higher - a total of $611,000 - to enhance their Advanced Placement program, Stein said.
“You think about it, in most states if the number of kids taking exams increases, you wouldn’t expect the number of qualifying scores to also increase,” she said. “As more kids take the exams, you would expect those numbers to fall. That doesn’t happen here.”
Stein attributed the gains to multiple factors, including a state law that since 2008 has required every school district to offer at least four Advanced Placement courses - one each in math, science, English and social studies.
She cited the state’s investment in teacher training and a focus on developing the academic skills of younger students in pre-Advanced Placement classes so they have a greater chance of success in the college-level classes.
Additionally, Stein credited the efforts of the Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Mathematics and Sciences, the grant-funded, nonprofit organization based at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock that works directly with selected high schools to increase student preparation for careers in math and science. That is done by increasing student success on Advanced Placement exams.
The initiative, which worked with 39 high schools across Arkansas last year, provides training to the teachers as well as test-preparation sessions on Saturday for students and financial incentives to both teachers and students for qualifying scores. Students, for example, receive $100 per qualifying score on math, English or science tests.
The math and science initiative is largely funded with grants from Exxon-Mobil and the Walton Family Foundation. The five-year grant program expires after the 2012-13 school year.
That prompted state Board of Education members to ask earlier this month for data on how much it would cost for the state to take over the program and expand it to all public high schools.
“We are such a small number of schools but we are producing such a huge part of the scores for the state,” initiative President Tommie Sue Anthony said Monday about the initiative.
As an example of that, the 39-school initiative accounted for 51 percent of the 4,618 black and Hispanic students who took an Advanced Placement exam in math, science or English earlier this year, and 55 percent, or 327 of the 600 black and Hispanic students who earned qualifying scores.
In regard to the SAT college-entrance exam, which is also produced by The College Board, the number of test-takers dropped from 1,345 in 2011 to 1,320 in the Class of 2012. When just public school students are considered, the total number of test takers fell from 1,006 in 2011 to 994.
The average score in reading for public school students dropped 3 points from 568 to 565. The average math score dropped 6 points from 573 to 567, and by 6 points on the writing section, from 553 to 547. The high score on each of the tests is 800 points.
The national average on the reading test was 496, on the math test, 514 and on the writing test, 488.
Most Arkansas high school students take the ACT college entrance exam.
Of the most recent Arkansas graduating class, 88 percent, or 26,058 students, took the ACT at least once and earned an average score of 20.3 on the 36-point test. That was an increase from last year’s average of 19.9 and a return to slightly higher scores in previous years.
Stein said that the Advanced Placement program offers opportunities for higher achievement on college entrance exams and college in general.
“The more we open the gates for kids to take these classes, to experience the acceleration, to see what the rigor of college, the better,” she said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/25/2012