Sunday, January 29, 2017

ADVANCED PLACEMENT AND COLLEGE-GOING

Followers of this blog are aware that enrollment in Advanced Placement coursework has exploded in the past two decades, as the District has added coursework, implemented programs such as AVID, and taken down barriers to enrollment.

PROGRAM GROWTH

Here's a chart showing the Boise students taking one or more AP tests expressed as a percentage of juniors and seniors over the years, compared with the "pass rate" (exams scored 3 and above) for those same students.


So, as we anticipated, the overall "pass rate" for AP tests taken in the Boise District has declined from about 3/4 to about 2/3 in the past twenty years (the 2016 national rate was 58%; the Idaho rate (without Boise) was 60%.

However, less than 1 in 10 students (as a percentage of juniors and seniors) took an exam in 1995. Last year, the ratio was 52%. This chart is truly illustrative of the progress we've made in providing rigorous opportunities for kids.

COLLEGE-GOING RATES

The State Board of Education posted a Dual Credit report in 2015 in which they wrote about the college-going habits of high school students enrolling in dual credit classes. 71% of students passing dual credit classes enrolled in college, and 70% of those students returned for a second year. For non-dual credit students, the figures were 45% enrolling and 55% returning for a second year. So, almost 50% of dual credit students were still enrolled in sophomore year, while only a quarter of non-dual credit students were still enrolled.

We were curious how this kind of comparison played out for students who took one or more Advanced Placement tests during their high school careers. We took a look at the class of 2013, and analyzed the "go-on" rate for the class and the percentage of those that went to college who were still enrolled in the fall of 2016.

The results of the study were impressive. Of seniors in the class of 2013 who took one or more AP tests in high school, 91% enrolled in college, and 81% were still enrolled or have graduated 3 years later

Here are the data by Boise School District high school:



By way of explanation, the first column in the above chart reflects the percentage of class of 2013 students who took one or more AP tests and enrolled in college after graduation (Boise High percentage - 94%). The second column is the college enrollment percentage for all 2013 graduates (Boise - 70%). The third column is the percentage of graduate AP test takers who were enrolled after 3 years (Boise - 89%), and the fourth column is the percentage of the 2013 class enrolled after 3 years (Boise - 68%).

Now, it makes sense that a higher percentage of AP test-takers would have enrolled in college than of the total graduating class. Many AP students come from supportive families that have the resources to assist students with college expenses. That would have especially been true back in the time when only a small percentage of Boise high school students took AP coursework.

However, with the growth of the Advanced Placement program, more students than ever are accessing rigorous coursework, and the percentage of those students attending and staying in college is extremely high. In fact, if most of the class of 2013 students who've been in college for three years graduate, the percentage with degrees and certificates will far exceed the State Board's goal of 60% of students ages 25-34 having a post-secondary degree or certificate. 



No matter the college or university, students who took one or more AP tests in high school stay in college at far higher rates than do students in the overall population of the college or university.

AP test-takers also go to out-of-state colleges more often than Boise's college attendees as a whole. In general, about 2/3 of Boise college-goers attend in-state colleges. Among AP test-taker, the percentage is 55% in-state ad 45% out-of-state.