More Montgomery County students are taking college-prep classes and exams after a decadelong push, but the percentage who succeed has fallen, according to results released Monday.
Students took nearly 26,000 of the highly prized Advanced Placement tests in 2008, up from almost 17,000 in 2003. Seventy-one percent of those tests earned a passing score, but that number has fallen every year but one since 2003.
Individual students often take more than one of the exams that can earn them college credit if they score a three (out of a possible five) or better.
Black participation grew from 220 tests in 1999 to 2,510 tests in 2008. But while 68 percent earned passing scores in 1999, only 46 percent did in 2008. Among Hispanic students, 2,380 tests were taken in 2008, up from 220 tests in 1999, but passing rates fell to 56 percent from 84 percent.
Despite the declines, 10-year school board member Pat O’Neill said the dramatic increase in tests taken was a positive step, adding that “students benefit from the critical thinking and analysis that occurs in Advanced Placement classes.”
“We’ve really opened doors,” O’Neill said. “There used to be a lot of gatekeeping, and we’ve moved so far from that.”
In Fairfax County, the closest in the D.C. region to Montgomery’s demographic twin, strides have been less dramatic, but results have improved.
In 2008, about 29,600 exams were taken and about 20,000 of them, or 68 percent, earned a passing score. In 2005, students took 23,800 tests, of which about 16,000, or 67 percent, received a three or higher.
Speaking during the scores’ release in August, Fairfax Superintendent Jack Dale credited the improvements to “the positive direction our school board and staff have taken with the student achievement goals.”
Similar patterns hold true for the county’s minority students.
Black participation in Fairfax County grew from 830 tests with a 45 percent pass rate in 2005 to 1,230 tests with a 50 percent pass rate in 2008. Hispanic students’ pass rate held steady at 60 percent, but participation grew from 1,290 to 1,750.
