DMPS Sees Four-Year Increase of 47% in “Passing” AP Exams

Fact: more DMPS students are earning top scores on AP exams than ever before.

In 2011, barely a thousand Advanced Placement exams were taken throughout all of Des Moines Public Schools.

Last year, more than 2,500 AP exams were taken.

In fact, the school district has seen a 149% increase in the number of AP exams taken in just four years.

But, as participation has increased is the district seeing gains in the number of scores of 3, 4 or 5 on AP exams that can often translate to college credit? A review of the data gives a clear answer: Yes!

In 2011, 681 AP exams taken by DMPS students earned a 3, 4 or 5. This year, a total of 1,002 AP exams taken in the district scored a 3, 4 or 5. In four years the number of such exam results increased by just over 47%.

Advanced Placement courses are college-level classes offered at all five DMPS high schools as well as Central Academy, the top-rated AP program in Iowa. AP exams, administered by the College Board at the end of the course, are scored on a scale of 1-5. Many colleges and universities will provide credit for a “passing” score of 3 and higher.

“Our district-wide approach to improving Advanced Placement in Des Moines involves three steps. The first two – increasing access to courses and increasing participation – have seen great success,” said Amber Graeber, Advanced Placement coordinator for Des Moines Public Schools. “The third step is to increase the number of students who earn top marks on the AP exams. While we have already seen big gains in the number of AP exams earning a 3, 4 or 5, the number and percentage is only going to increase as we provide greater support to our AP teachers throughout the district.”

Beyond the results on an AP exam, many experts point to the value for students in simply taking the rigorous course work found in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate (also offered at DMPS) courses. The Center for Public Education notes:

• Taking an AP/IB course has a dramatic effect on a student’s chance of persisting, or continuing, in college, even when a student fails the end-of-course exam;
• Low achieving and low SES students who take an AP/IB course were 17% more likely to persist in four-year colleges and 30% more likely to persist in two-year colleges;
• The more of these courses a student took, the higher their persistence rates were in college.