by Genevieve Demos Kelley
Earlier this year, we ran a story noting the six-year upward trend in Advanced Placement (AP) exam participation among students in Prince George’s County Schools. Between 2008 and 2014, participation in the AP program grew, while passing rates held steady. (Scores of three or higher, out of a possible five points, are considered passing.)
But according to numbers released on the 2015 Maryland Report Card, both the number of exams taken and the overall passing rate have declined slightly this year. Mathematics exams saw the biggest drop with a passing rate of 15.8% and 109 out of 692 exams receiving a passing score in 2015, compared with last year’s passing rate of 19.1%, with 161 successful exams out of a total of 841 exams taken.
2008 | 2014 | 2015 | |
AP Subject Description | Exams with Scores 3-5/ Exams Taken (%Exams w/ Scores 3-5) |
Exams with Scores 3-5/ Exams Taken (%Exams w/ Scores 3-5) |
Exams with Scores 3-5/ Exams Taken (%Exams w/ Scores 3-5) |
All Subjects | 2150/7829 (27.5%) | 2606/9660 (27%) | 2443/9452 (25.8%) |
All Fine Arts | 55/120 (45.8%) | 130/267 (48.7%) | 95/267 (35.6%) |
All English Language Arts | 593/2313 (25.6%) | 623/2737 (22.8%) | 625/2684 (23.3%) |
All Foreign Language | 191/301 (63.5%) | 227/308 (73.7%) | 183/251 (72.9%) |
All Mathematics | 180/753 (23.9%) | 161/841 (19.1%) | 109/692 (15.8%) |
All Science | 682/2341 (29.1%) | 775/2791 (27.8%) | 778/2616 (29.7%) |
All Social Studies | 449/2001 (22.4%) | 690/2716 (25.4%) | 618/2880 (21.5%) |
Source: Maryland Report Card
These numbers don’t look good, but it’s not all bad news. Let’s take a closer look at the data and put the numbers in context: