Number of AP exams up in Utah

More Utah students, including ethnic minorities, are taking Advanced Placement exams for college credit, and pass rates hover around 65 percent, above the 60-percent national average.

That's according to a Tuesday report from The College Board and State Office of Education. Also released were results of the SAT college entrance test, taken by few Utah students. Students here outperformed national averages, though both Utah's and the nation's scores dropped this year.

The State Office of Education is pleased with Utah's showings.

"On AP, great news again that the participation rates for minority students are up and we continue to outscore national averages for passing the test for credit," spokesman Mark Peterson said. While SAT numbers overall are down, "Utah's end of it is still looking good — no slippage in math, and more minority students are getting involved."

• In the 2005-06 school year, on which the report focuses, nearly 15,500 students took AP exams. That's a 3.7 percent increase from the year before. Ethnic minority participation also is rising, by 11.5 percent for blacks, 5 percent for American Indians and 2.3 percent for Hispanics, for example.

This year's overall 65 percent pass rate — or students scoring a 3, 4, or 5 on the exams for subjects from chemistry to art history — mirrors the previous year's, but is lower than the 69 percent rate in 2001-02.

Rising participation indicates students of varied academic skills are taking AP classes, and reflects a trend of more students taking early-college programs including concurrent enrollment, state curriculum director Brett Moulding said.

"Those are good numbers, and districts have made significant efforts to involve all students in rigorous courses of study," he said.

Davis High School posts Utah's highest AP participation in the state, with 699 test-takers, the State Office of Education reported. Principal Rulon Homer said the school tries to attract students to take AP classes.

"We have taken the challenge over the last few years to raise the bar for those middle-of-the-road kids because they are very capable and bright students," he said. "I think it's an attitude that you sell a rigorous high school education because of the world that these kids are going out into today."

Timpview High leads the state with an 86 percent pass rate, the State Office of Education reported.