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SALT LAKE CITY — One out of five students in Utah's high school class of 2011 passed an Advanced Placement exam, making Utah the 10th best state in the nation for students earning AP credit, according to information released Wednesday by the College Board.
In total, 18,508 Utah students took 29,851 AP exams and passed them at a rate of 68 percent, an increase in both participation and performance compared to 2010. According to the College Board, the organization that administers the AP and SAT exams, the national AP passage average is 58 percent.
"These are great results for Utah," Utah State Office of Education spokesman Mark Peterson said. "In the last five years we've generally been in the top 10 or 15."
- Maryland (27.9 percent )
- New York (26.5 percent)
- Virginia (25.6 percent)
- Massachusetts (25.5 percent)
- Connecticut (25.3 percent)
- Florida (23.9 percent)
- California (23.4 percent)
- Colorado (22.3 percent)
- Vermont (21.4 percent)
- Utah (20.7 percent)
Utah is one of three western states to make the top 10, with 20.7 percent of seniors passing at least one AP exam last year. The other two states were California and Colorado, with 23.4 percent and 22.3 percent of students passing an exam respectively. Maryland is ranked first with 27.9 percent.
According to Peterson, the most popular AP exam for Utah students is U.S. History, followed by English Literature and Composition and Calculus AB. Two Utah high schools, Green River High School and Ogden Preparatory Academy, had a passing rate of 100 percent, but relatively few students from those schools participated in AP examinations.
Ogden Preparatory Academy Vice Principal Robert Mitchell said an AP European History course was held at the school last year with six or seven students, all of whom received passing scores on their exams.
"They were motivated and the teacher really challenged them," he said.
Bear River High School Principal Nolan Johnson said the school does not offer AP courses and any tests its students passed were likely taken elsewhere.
In addition to the state's ranking, the College Board named Nebo, Canyons and Davis school districts to the AP Honor Roll for increasing student participation and performance for three consecutive years. The Davis district was also named to the honor roll in 2010.
"We couldn't achieve this honor without the support of parents and great teachers in the classroom," Davis School District communications specialist Shauna Lund said. "They are the ones that deserve this honor."
The increases could be partly attributed to district growth — more students means more students taking, and passing, exams — but Lund emphasized that Davis high schools have taken a proactive approach to encouraging and preparing students to take exams.
"We hope to be on the honor roll again next year," she said.
Lana Hiskey, public information officer for Nebo School District, said the district is thrilled to be recognized and added that a new Early College Advanced Learning Center is planned to open in the fall to assist fast track students.
"Anything we can do to help students prepare for college and careers, we think it's important," Hiskey said.
Passing is defined as scoring a 3, 4 or 5 on the exams. Students who do so are awarded college credit.
Email:benwood@desnews.com
