Montgomery County students taking college-level science courses passed their exams at higher rates than in years past, but Fairfax County students mostly saw their pass rates in courses such as physics and chemistry stagnate or drop. While fewer history, government and foreign-language Advanced Placement exams posted a score of three or higher, Montgomery students pushed their pass rates up in biology, chemistry, environmental science and physics.
Nearly 83 percent of chemistry exams were passing, up from 81.2 percent in 2009 and 80.1 percent in 2008. Biology jumped a point to 73.7 percent, and Physics C and environmental science hit new highs of 77.5 percent and 59.5 percent, respectively.
Laurie Halverson, vice president for educational issues for the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations, said she was pleasantly surprised by the improving performance in science, given the laserlike focus on math and reading that No Child Left Behind placed on schools.
“It’s nice to know in science they’re improving,” said Halverson, noting an increased emphasis on science in elementary and middle school recently. “That wouldn’t be showing up on the AP scores, but maybe [the school system] just has really good science teachers coming in, recruiting good teachers at that level.”
In Fairfax, 63 percent of biology exams received passing scores, up from 62 percent in 2009. Chemistry remained flat at 68 percent, along with environmental science at 46 percent. Performance on the Physics C exam dropped from 75 percent to 70 percent.
