The 9th Annual AP Report to the Nation District of Columbia Supplement February 1, 201 District of Columbia
District of Columbia Table of Contents 5 Fostering AP Participation and Success A Closer Look at Equity Gaps in AP Participation and Success About This Report This report provides educators and policymakers with information they can use to celebrate their successes, understand their unique challenges, and set meaningful goals to increase opportunity for all students. It s important to note that while AP Exams are valid measures of students content mastery of college-level studies in specific academic disciplines, AP results should never be used as the sole measure for gauging educational excellence and equity. Because reliable demographic data for nonpublic schools are not available for all states, this report represents public school students only. Additionally, this report looks at students entire experience with AP tracking exams taken by graduates throughout their high school careers as opposed to reporting exam results from a particular calendar year. Additional data are available at apreport.collegeboard.org. Note: Throughout this report, public high school graduates represent projections supplied in Knocking at the College Door (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2008). The District of Columbia Supplement incorporates public schools, including charter schools, identified by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE). 2
Fostering AP Participation and Success Figure 1 Growth in AP participation and success Number of graduates leaving high school having taken an AP Exam Number of 584 1,017 1,471 24 211 2 1,512 89 More graduates are succeeding on AP Exams today than ever before 2002 2007 2011 2012 Figure 2 Participation in and success on AP Exams in the class of 2012 Percentage of Percentage of Percentage of District of Columbia Arts English 2.7% 1.4% 5.4% 25.9% Art History, Music Theory, Studio Art: Drawing Portfolio, Studio Art: 2-D Design Portfolio, and Studio Art: -D Design Portfolio English Language and Composition, and English Literature and Composition English had the greatest number of graduates scoring a or higher History and Social Sciences 4.8% 19.2% Comparative Government and Politics, European History, Human Geography, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Psychology, United States Government and Politics, United States History, and World History Mathematics and Computer Science 1.6% 6.9% Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Computer Science A, Computer Science AB, and Statistics Sciences 1.7% 10.1% Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Physics B, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, and Physics C: Mechanics World Languages 4.8% 2.6% Chinese Language and Culture, French Language and Culture, French Literature, German Language and Culture, Italian Language and Culture, Japanese Language and Culture, Latin Literature, Latin: Vergil, Spanish Language, and Spanish Literature Any Discipline 9.9% 8.6% Total Number of Graduates:,917 The AP Computer Science AB, French Literature, and Latin Literature Exams were last offered in the 2008-09 school year. AP Italian Language and Culture was discontinued after the 2008-09 school year, and was reinstated in 2011-12.
Fostering AP Participation and Success Figure Score distributions of AP Exams taken by the class of 2012 during high school Ten Most Popular AP Exams Score of 1 Score of 2 Score of Score of 4 Score of 5 Rank Subject No. of Exams 8 4 2 2 4 8 Latin: Vergil 5 0.0 80.0 20.0 Music Theory 19 26. 1.6 1.6 10.5 Italian Language and Culture 6. 16.7. 16.7 French Language and Culture 45 17.8 20.0 44.4 11.1 6.7 Physics C: Mechanics 26 15.4 2.1 19.2 26.9 15.4 European History 9. 11.1 22.2 22.2 11.1 Art History 60 2. 21.7 5.0 11.7 8. 9 Spanish Language 121 25.6 20.7 20.7 19.8 1.2 Calculus BC 12 25.0 25.0 8. 8.. Statistics 88 4.2 1.6 21.6 17.0 4.5 Comparative Government and Politics 98 4.9 18.4 20.4 10.2 7.1 6 World History 208 45.7 17.8 16.8 10.6 9.1 Studio Art: 2-D Design Portfolio 14 21.4 42.9 7.1 21.4 7.1 Microeconomics 17 2.5 41.2 2.5 11.8 Studio Art: Drawing Portfolio 21 14. 52.4 4.8 14. 14. Physics B 9 69.2 2.1 5.1 2.6 Macroeconomics 14 14. 57.1 21.4 7.1 4 United States Government and Politics 26 42.9 28.5 17.8 6.7 4.0 Spanish Literature 4 5.5 18.6 20.9 7.0 Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism 26 0.8 42..8 15.4 7.7 United States History 69 52.0 21.7 14.4 7.9 4.1 2 English Language and Composition 692 47.4 27.7 1.4 7.5.9 Psychology 6.6 12.1 12.1.0 9.1 5 Human Geography 211 70.1 8.1 5.7 8.1 8.1 10 Environmental Science 104 62.5 18. 6.7 12.5 7 Calculus AB 205 74.1 10.2 8..9.4 1 English Literature and Composition 775 56.6 28.0 9.2 4.4 1.8 8 Biology 17 80. 6.4 4.0 5.8.5 Chemistry 82 84.1 9.8 4.9 1.2 Chinese Language and Culture 1 Computer Science A German Language and Culture 0 Japanese Language and Culture 0 Studio Art: -D Design Portfolio 0 + Due to rounding, percentages do not always add up to 100.0. AP Italian Language and Culture was discontinued after the 2008-09 school year, and was reinstated in 2011-12. Discontinued subjects, as well as those with fewer than five AP Exam takers, were omitted from this figure. 4
Low Income Figure 4 Trends in AP Exam participation and success... who are from low-income backgrounds 1,758 exams were taken by low-income graduates in the class of 2012 9 8 7 5 4 49.4% 6.6% 48.9% 25.6% 40.9% 8.1% 47. 40.9% 2 1 200 2007 2011 2012 200 2007 2011 2012 299 89 497 54 602 12 711 159 At time of press, the numbers of low-income students for each graduating class and for low-income AP Exam takers prior to the class of 200 were not available. 5
Black/African American Figure 5 Trends in AP Exam participation and success students in the graduating class... who are black/african American 997 black/african American graduates in the class of 2012 took an AP Exam during high school 9 86.9% 88.4% 90. 90.5% 8 7 5 4 59.1% 1.2% 64.4% 24.6% 66.7% 65.9% 41.2% 41.9% 2 1 2,684 45 7,112 655 52,757 981 1,544 997 16 6
Hispanic/Latino Figure 6 Trends in AP Exam participation and success students in the graduating class... who are Hispanic/Latino 246 Hispanic/Latino graduates in the class of 2012 took an AP Exam during high school 9 8 7 5 4 2 1 24.8% 20.4% 18.6% 20.6% 1.2% 12.7% 15.8% 16.% 6.8% 6.8% 6.9% 6.6% 209 77 58 240 129 4 288 2 60 259 246 80 7
American Indian/ Alaska Native Figure 7 Trends in AP Exam participation and success students in the graduating class... who are American Indian/Alaska Native 2 American Indian/ Alaska Native graduates in the class of 2012 took an AP Exam during high school 9 8 7 5 4 2 1 0.5% 0.1% 0.2% 0.% 0.1% 2 4 2 Precise numbers of American Indian/Alaska Native graduates for the classes of 2007 through 2012 for the District of Columbia are not available from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Success data omitted when fewer than five graduates took an AP Exam. 8
Asian/Asian American/ Pacific Islander Figure 8 Trends in AP Exam participation and success students in the graduating class... who are Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander 4 Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander graduates in the class of 2012 took an AP Exam during high school 9 8 7 5 4 2 1 7. 6.8% 2.1% 8.1% 4.7% 1.8% 4. 2.7% 1. 5.9% 2.8% 1. 66 41 16 62 48 17 41 9 1 41 4 2 9
White Figure 9 Trends in AP Exam participation and success students in the graduating class... who are white 119 white graduates in the class of 2012 took an AP Exam during high school 9 8 7 5 4 2 1 26.9% 26.9% 1. 4.1% 7.4% 9.8%.1% 7.5% 2.4% 2.9% 7.9% 2.5% 128 76 6 110 100 79 102 110 87 97 119 9 10
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