More students than ever before are passing AP exams, said Trevor Packer, executive director of the Advanced Placement program for the College Board.
Last year, 14.1 percent of graduating seniors scored three or higher on AP exams, while during 2004, 13.2 percent scored three or higher, according to an announcement by the College Board released on Tuesday.
Packer attributed the success of students to teachers' efforts to make ninth and 10th grade coursework more rigorous.
"Much of the credit is due to educators that have realized that in order to help more students learn at a higher level in high school, you have to start before AP," Packer said.
Packer credits the vertically aligned curriculum, in which students start preparing in middle school to take advanced coursework in their junior and senior years of high school, for AP students' success.
Additionally, Packer said he hopes that increased AP enrollment and success on exams will aid students in making a smooth transition from high school to college.
"I wouldn't say it's true at U.Va, but at many schools nationwide we're combating high college dropout rates," Packer said.
Packer added that while more students are passing the exams, the average AP score has not changed.
"The average score hasn't varied in the past 20 years," Packer said, adding that the average exam score hovers around 3.05 from year to year.
While more students are succeeding in AP courses, more students are also failing to pass the exams.
"More students are getting ones and twos than before, but there are more students getting every score range," Packer said.
Carolyn Easterlin, a guidance counselor at Charlottesville High School, said this report is somewhat consistent with her students' experiences.
"There has been a slight increase in the number of students taking APs, but there has not been a change in the scores," Easterlin said.
Admissions Dean John Blackburn said he has observed an increase in the rigor of students' high school curriculum.
"If we saw a student taking two or three [AP courses in the past], we thought that was a rigorous program," Blackburn said. "Now that might be seen as pretty modest. I don't buy into the notion that they're dumbing down the program, I think students are just better prepared."
College Dean Edward Ayers agreed that students are entering the University with more AP credit each year, and said students use AP credit to avoid taking math and science classes.
"What that means is that students who obviously have the capacity to do math and science, if they've taken the AP class, don't get engaged in the science classes they have here when they first show up," Ayers said.
Both Packer and Blackburn alluded to critics, who fear that enrollment in AP classes may increase, but at the expense of course rigor and quality.
"The fact that more students are passing an exam as tough, or tougher, than exams in the past, is a triumph for U.S. secondary schools," Packer said. "Schools are doing the best job ever of exposing students to college-level curriculum."
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