Maryland students are outpacing their counterparts across the nation on the Advanced Placement (AP) and ACT national assessments, according to data released over the past two weeks.
The number of Maryland students scoring at the college mastery level (scores 3-5) on the AP tests increased 4.6 percent in 2008, according to data being released today by the College Board. The number of students taking the exams jumped 9.6 percent over 2007.
Students from minority groups did especially well on the rigorous subject-matter assessments.
Scores on the increasingly popular ACT exam, released earlier this month, also showed marked improvement and a large increase in participation. The state’s 2008 graduates earned an average composite score of 22.0 on the college admission and placement exam, up from 21.6 last year and 21.4 in 2005. That’s well above the national average of 21.1, which fell over the past year. The exam is scored on a scale of 1-36.
Scores on the SAT reasoning test were altered nationwide after a redesign undertaken in 2006 by the College Board. Test developers added a writing assessment, increased the rigor of the mathematics portion, and changed what was once a verbal segment to a critical reading assessment. The test now takes nearly four hours to complete. Overall Maryland scores this year held steady, with writing rising one point to 497, reading dropping one point to 499, and mathematics staying the same at 502.
Public school students in Maryland improved their scores between 2007 and 2008, rising three points in writing, rising one point in math, and dropping one point in reading.
There are indications that some Maryland students are shifting to the ACT exam as a secondary exam and fewer are taking the SAT multiple times. This could be contributing to the overall lack of movement on the SAT scores. College Board analysts say that scores tend to improve on the SAT after taking it a second or third time.
The number of graduating Maryland seniors taking the ACT has risen dramatically in just two years. There were 7,758 seniors taking the ACT in 2006. By 2008 that number had risen to 10,740. Meanwhile, the number of graduating seniors taking the SAT has leveled off. The College Board reported that 45,231 Maryland seniors took the exam in 2006. That number had increased slightly to 46,928 this past year. It remains the primary testing choice for most Maryland seniors.
Today’s data release by the College Board includes a number of interesting points. For example:
- Dramatic improvement on the Advanced Placement test is being registered by minority students, even as they take more tests.
- The number of African American test takers jumped 29 percent last year, with the number of students scoring in the college mastery range increasing 13.5 percent.
- The number of Mexican American test takers jumped 19.8 percent last year, according to the College Board, while the number of students scoring at the college mastery level increased 17.7 percent.
- The number of Puerto Rican test takers increased 9 percent last year, with the number of students scoring at the college mastery level increasing 13.4 percent.
- The number of other Hispanic students taking the exams jumped 22.6 percent, with the number of students scoring in the college mastery range increasing 18.6 percent.