THE BEST MEASURE OF COLLEGE READINESS

Idaho high school students earned over 100,000 college credits in 2014-15. What better measure of readiness for college than actually taking and passing courses certified by Boise State University, Northwest Nazarene University, the College of Western Idaho, and other colleges and universities, or taking Advanced Placement coursework and the rigorous AP tests that conclude the courses?

Dual Credit

Here's a slide portraying the growth in Dual Credit participation since 2008-09 by students across the state of Idaho. More than 8000 more students participated last year than did only six years ago.

In the ten districts of the Southern Idaho Conference (Emmett, Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Kuna, Mountain Home, Vallivue, Middleton, West Ada, and Bishop Kelly), Dual Credit enrollment has grown from 1,820 students to 6,910. In other words, over four times as many students were enrolled last year in Dual Credit coursework than were just six years ago.

As you might expect, the number of Dual Credits earned by students statewide has also dramatically increased:

Locally, students earned 6305 Dual Credits in 2008-09, and in 2014-15, just 6 years later, the number was 28,848. That's well over 4 times as many credits earned as were earned in 2008-09.

Advanced Placement

In Dual Credit programs teachers are approved to teach the classes by the host university or college, and students must garner a grade of "B" in the course to receive the credits.

In Advanced Placement coursework, students take a rigorous national exam prepared by the College Board in order to qualify for college credit. The exams are graded at a central location, and students who receive a score of 3, 4, or 5 on a 1-5 scale are eligible for college credit at most universities and colleges nationwide.

Universities and colleges decide what credit they will provide for scores of 3, 4, or 5. The College Board has a website parents and students can check for the credit policies of colleges and universities.

Since Advanced Placement is viewed as the "gold standard" of rigorous coursework, and the exams are seen as very difficult, fewer students in many districts participate in Advanced Placement coursework. In 2014-15, the Boise District gave 37% of the AP exams statewide. 

Nevertheless, the number of students taking at least one AP exam has increased substantially during the same period of time. in 2008-09, about 4300 students participated in AP testing statewide; in 2014-15, the number was 6151.

In the Treasure Valley, 2198 students participated in AP testing in 2008-09. By 2014-15, 3496 students took AP tests.

The number of AP exams taken statewide has gone from about 700o in 2008-09 to 10442 in 2014-15. Students received a score of "3" or better on 65% of the exams in 2014-15, meaning that over 6700 exams were eligible for credit. At 3 credits per eligible exam, Idaho students were eligible for over 20,000 college credits via AP exams in 2014-15.

In 2014-15, Treasure Valley students were eligible for over half of the credits earned in the state, at over 11,700.

When you add it all up, Idaho students earned over 100,000 credits from colleges and universities across the country in 2014-15.

With State Board of Education analyses indicating that students who participate in these Advanced Opportunities go on to college at a much higher rate (71%) than do those who don't participate (45%), and come back for sophomore year at a much higher rate (80% compared with 63%) we know we are on the right track with Dual Credit and AP classes.

Idaho's legislature recently passed legislation to provide each Idaho student with fiscal support for Dual Credit fees and AP exam fees to the tune of over $4600.  Our students are receiving the support they need to be prepared for the future.