AP exam participation rates increase

Ken Wagner, commissioner of elementary and secondary education, is shown speaking with Gov. Gina M. Raimondo. Wagner said the AP and SAT results recently released show that Rhode Island students recognize the importance of preparing for college. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
Ken Wagner, commissioner of elementary and secondary education, is shown speaking with Gov. Gina M. Raimondo. Wagner said the AP and SAT results recently released show that Rhode Island students recognize the importance of preparing for college. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – Participation rates on advanced placement exams increased by 7 percentage points compared with the previous year, according to the R.I. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The state agency cited information released this week from the College Board, which showed that 4,675 Rhode Island public-school students took an AP exam during the 2014-2015 school year.
Students took 7,820 exams, an increase of 8 percentage points from the previous year. Of those exams, 4,413 received a score of 3 or higher (on a 5-point scale), an improvement of 6 percentage points from the previous year. All of the increases exceeded national rates of improvement among public-school students, the state department said.
Among black students, AP test-takers climbed by 9 percentage points, the number of tests increased by 8 percentage points, and the number of tests scored 3 or higher increased by 8.5 percentage points. Participation among Hispanic students dropped by 2 percentage points, but the number of tests scored 3 or higher increased by 10 percentage points.

“One of our goals is to provide all students with the opportunity to participate in challenging coursework, such as Advanced Placement courses or the International Baccalaureate, so I am very pleased to see the increase in participation in and success on AP exams,” Daniel P. McConaghy, chair of the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education, said in a statement. “These results show not only that thousands of our high-school students are well prepared for college but also that many students will enter college with advanced standing or completed credits – which can help reduce the cost of a college education.”
Regarding the SAT, 59 percent of Rhode Island public school students from the Class of 2015 took the exam. That participation rate has improved by five percentage points over the past five years. This past year, 6,238 students took the SAT, an increase of 1 percentage point.
SAT participation among black seniors rose by 7 percentage points this year, to 62 percent. Over the past five years, the participation rate among black students has risen by 11 percentage points.
Among Hispanic students, participation dropped by 1 percentage point, to 52 percent, but the five-year participation rate has increased by 8 percentage points.
The SAT scores for Rhode Island public-school students in the Class of 2015 were 480 in reading (9 points below the national average), 481 in mathematics (17 points below the national average), and 468 in writing (3 points below the national average). Rhode Island’s scores fell by 3 points in each test, nearly matching the national trend, which was a drop of 2 points in reading and a decline of 3 points in mathematics and writing.
According to the College Board, 34 percent of Rhode Island public school SAT test-takers attained a total score of 1550 – the College Board benchmark for college-readiness.
Said Ken Wagner, commissioner of elementary and secondary education, “The results released today confirm that Rhode Island students recognize the importance of preparing for college – through their courses of study and through participation for college-readiness exams such as the SAT and AP. We need to continue working with teachers, students and their families to ensure that students in every high school have the knowledge and skills they need to continue with their education beyond high school.”

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  1. Title of the article should simply be RI Releases AP score information. The title makes it sound like we are doing fantastically. While more participation is a nice thing, the casual reader may not delve into the article to see that our secondary schools are still very poor when it comes to making our best and brightest competitive and successful in college.
    They mention our SAT scores but only mentioned participation for AP exams. Why not provide the AP scores and their comparison across the country?
    We need bright Rhode Islanders to stay so employers have somebody to hire.