RI Schools: The Basic Facts
Profile of Schools, Student Characteristics,
   and Kids Count

Learning and Achievement
Assessments
Disaggregations
Accountability
How Rhode Island Classifies Schools
2004 School-Performance Classification:
Elementary  |Middle  |High

Using Information
State Indicators
Value Added:
Elementary  |Middle  |High
Attendance and Graduation Rates,
Learning Support Indicators:
Elementary  |Middle  |High

Safe and Supportive Environments
Students' Point of View:Middle  |High
Suspensions

Equity and Adequacy of Resources
Property Value/Student Compared to
   Tax Rate
Tax Capacity and Effort
In$ite: Including Other Commitments
In$ite: Excluding Other Commitments
Out-of-District Obligations
In$ite: Instruction
In$ite: General Education
Middle  |High

Curriculum and Instruction
Advanced Placement Exams
Teaching Practices:
Elementary  |Middle  |High
Inclusion
Students with Disabilities
Students with Disabilities: Participation
Elementary  |Middle  |High
Students with Disabilities: Participation by District
Elementary  |Middle  |High

Engaging Families
Elementary  |Middle  |High

View/download the Advanced Placement Exams chart (PDF, 24 KB)

What you are looking at

The College Board created, administers, and scores Advanced Placement (AP) Exams to assess college-level learning in 34 subject areas. The College Board works with high schools to develop the curriculum for AP courses, which many schools offer to prepare their students for AP Exams and for college. The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association of schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations.

This table presents data, provided by the College Board, that show how many students at each public high school in the state took AP Exams, how many exams were administered at each high school, and how many exams were scored at a level that represents college-level mastery of a subject. (The exams are graded 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. The College Board considers a score of 3 or above to represent college-level mastery.)

The table shows the number of students who took the test in each school and the percentage of seniors who took the test. This figure is an approximation, as some of the exams may have been taken by juniors, sophomores, or even freshmen. Most are taken by seniors, however, and the percentage represents the numbers of students who took at least one AP Exam as a percentage of the number of seniors enrolled in the high school.

The table also shows the number of tests taken (many students take more than one AP Exam), the number of exams with a score of 3 or higher, and the percentage of exams with a score of 3 or higher.

The table is ranked by the percentage of seniors who took at least one exam. Data are not reported if there were fewer than 10 seniors in the school or if fewer than 10 exams were administered.

What you are looking for

First of all, you would like to see that a high percentage of seniors took at least one AP Exam. Advanced Placement courses are only one type of challenging academic course, and some students in enrolled in AP courses may choose not to take the exam. But the percentage who take an AP Exam is a good way to measure whether schools offer a challenging curriculum to a wide range of students. All students should have access to challenging courses.

You would also like to see that a high percentage of students who took the AP Exams did well on the exams. If a high percentage of the students in the high school achieved college-level mastery, that signifies that the instruction, at least for the AP courses, has been highly effective.