Maryland students ranked first in the nation on their Advanced Placement exams for the third straight year, with 26.4 percent of last year’s seniors passing at least one of the college-level tests. Virginia placed third for the fourth year in a row, as 23.7 percent of commonwealth graduates passed an AP exam, which measures how well high school students master college-level courses. The rival states sandwich New York’s second-place finish at 24.6 percent.
| Black students and the AP | |||
| Maryland and Virginia were among 14 states that closed their Hispanic achievement gap, but they say there’s work to be done for their black students. | |||
| % of 2010 graduating class | % of successful* AP exams | Equity rating (out of 100) | |
| District | 90.4% | 33% | 36.5% |
| Maryland | 35.6% | 9.9% | 27.8% |
| Virginia | 24.3% | 6.9% | 28.4% |
| Nation | 14.6% | 3.9% | 26.7% |
| *Successful = passed one or more Advanced Placement exam with a score of 3 out of 5 | |||
| **Ranked among states | |||
| Source: College Board | |||
| Top 10 states | |||
| % of students passing at least one AP exam | |||
| Maryland | 26.4% | ||
| New York | 24.6% | ||
| Virginia | 23.7% | ||
| Connecticut | 23.2% | ||
| Massachusetts | 23.1% | ||
| California | 22.3% | ||
| Florida | 22.3% | ||
| Vermont | 21.8% | ||
| Colorado | 21.4% | ||
| Utah | 19.2% | ||
| National Average | 16.9% | ||
| Source: College Board | |||
On the other end of the scale, just 6.9 percent of District graduates passed an AP exam, above only North Dakota, Louisiana and Mississippi. Scoring a three out of five on the test is considered passing.
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