School district leads state in AP testing and scores

Published 3:37 pm Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The College Board has honored the Mercer Island School District for its Advanced Placement program which provides expansive access to AP courses, and has led to an increasing rate of achievement on AP exams.

MISD is one of 15 districts that had more than 30 percent of high school students participating in AP courses and had an increasing rate of performance scores of three of higher on AP exams.

“We believe strongly in preparing our students for college and for their careers,” said MISD Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano. “This is a welcome indicator of the success of our students, our high school programs, and the health of the district’s entire educational system.”

In November, the district was named by the College Board to its fifth annual AP District Honor Roll.

The AP District Honor Roll includes 547 districts in the United States and Canada that “simultaneously achieved increases in access to Advanced Placement courses for a broader number of students and also maintained or improved the rate at which their AP students earned scores of three or higher on an AP Exam.”

Reaching these goals indicates that MISD has successfully motivated and academically prepared students who are likely to benefit from rigorous AP course work.

Washington state’s 2014 high school graduates took a total of 48,747 AP exams that resulted in scores of three, four, or five. Based on students’ opportunity to earn at least three college credits for each AP exam score of three or higher, this represents an estimated 146,241 college credits.

At an average rate of about $361 per credit hour, the total potential cost savings for the state’s students and families was nearly $53 million.