More Wisconsin Students Taking, Passing AP Courses

State of Wisconsin
Department of Public Instruction
Elizabeth Burmaster, State Superintendent
(more)
****NEWS RELEASE****
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DPI 2006-23 B
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
CONTACT: Joseph Donovan, Communications Officer, (608) 266-3559
More students take Advanced Placement exams
Participation by students of color increases 8.8 percent from previous year
MADISON—Wisconsin’s progress in offering rigorous high school coursework through Advanced
Placement (AP) continued with more students taking AP exams in 2005 than in the previous school year.
The one-year increase in overall participation was 6.3 percent, and participation by students of color
climbed by 8.8 percent.
“We can be proud of the growth in AP
participation and of the diligence of our
students in achieving success on these exams,”
said State Superintendent Elizabeth
Burmaster. “Students who take Advanced
Placement coursework experience the rigor of college-level studies and gain a competitive advantage
when passing the end-of-year AP exam because they earn college-level credit for their efforts.”
During the 2004-05 school year, 18,896 public school students took 29,890 AP exams. In the
previous year, 17,768 students took 27,984 AP exams. Nationally, 1,017,056 public school students
took 1,747,852 AP exams in 2004-05, and 57.6 percent of students earned a grade of three or higher,
which is considered passing and eligible for college credit at most colleges and universities. In
Wisconsin, 67.2 percent of students who took AP exams earned a grade of 3-5 on the exams.
In the College Board’s second annual Advanced Placement Report to the Nation, an analysis
that looks at AP based on graduates who take an exam during their high school career, Wisconsin had
Wisconsin Nation
Number of Candidates 18,896 1,017,056
Number of Exams 29,890 1,747,852
Number of Grades 3-5 20,085 1,006,028
Percent Earning Grades of 3-5 67.2 57.6
Text formatted white
2005 AP Program
Public Schools
2005 AP report - page 2
12,878 public school graduates in the class of 2005 participating in AP. This represents a one-year increase
of 4.8 percent in the number of graduates taking an AP exam and a 44.6 percent increase over five
years. As a percentage of 2005 graduates, 21.1 percent took an AP exam during high school, up
from 20.0 percent in 2004 and 15.2 percent in 2000.
“Every student should have access to Advanced Placement coursework regardless of where they
live,” stated Burmaster. “To meet that goal and continue our efforts to close the achievement gap, we have
some important efforts under way to expand AP opportunities to students throughout the state.”
The 2005-07 state budget included $200,000 for Burmaster’s initiative to provide incentive grants
to start AP programming in the 25 percent of public high schools that do not currently offer AP classes.

###