Giving Students a Better Chance at the AP Exams

It's been a few years (ahem) for me since high school, but that doesn't mean I don't remember sweating through the Calculus AP exam I took. Each year, high school students across the country take the more than 30 advanced placement courses and exams, hopeful that it will make their transition to college a little easier.

Sure, a lot of students knock the tests out of the park, but many also agonize through them, while others don't even consider the tests an option. The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) is looking out for the latter two groups. The initiative, a nonprofit with founding sponsors ExxonMobil, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, aims to improve math and science education in the United States.

NMSI selected six states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Virginia -- to take part in its AP Training and Initiative Program (APTIP). The program's "combination of enhanced teacher training, teacher initiatives, student scholarships, more time on task for students and master teacher mentoring," according to this press release, was a huge hit.

The number of students with passing scores in AP math, science and English exams improved by 51 percent among students at the 67 high schools that participated in the program. That percentage is more than nine times the national average. Not only that, but the number of AP tests taken jumped by an average of 80 percent.

Clearly a success, the program is expanding. Another 78 schools will incorporate the program starting this fall, and the plan is to grow to up to 350 schools total by 2013.

You can find out more about the program here (PDF).

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