The College Board, which administers Advanced Placement tests nationally, said the amount of students taking AP exams in Alabama has risen to 24.5 percent of all high school students.
Alabama also leads the nation in increases of students who qualify for college credit with their scores with 21.1 percent of students.
Gov. Bob Riley spoke at an event at Clay-Chalkville High School last week and said, "Alabama truly is leading the nation in education reform," according to Todd Stacey, press secretary for the governor's office. "If you want to see how far we have come, just look at our success in Advanced Placement. Every time we challenge our students and teachers they end up exceeding our expectations, and setting the pace for the nation. Our young people today don't want to just look for jobs. They want to train for careers."
A $13.2 million grant from the National Math and Science Initiative was used to create a pilot program called Alabama's A+ College Ready, which is targeted at improving AP participation and performance in 12 Alabama high schools, Stacey said.
"The College Board reported a significant increase in minorities taking the exam and making better scores," Stacey said. "Many of these changes are taking place in rural cities."
According to the College Board, the A+ College Ready program results show that minority scores have increased by 67 percent and that the majority of scores have increased by 81 percent.
"This program has expanded to schools in the Huntsville City and Madison County systems starting this year and plans to expand into 80 Alabama schools total during the five year grant," Stacey said. "More students are taking the AP exam to get college credit and, as a result, high test scores increase."
The Access Distance Learning program Riley proposed three years ago is another reason there's been an increase in AP test-taking and performance, Stacey said.
This program started AP classes in schools that hadn't been offering them.
"We had to give students access to achieve more, and they have succeeded ours and the nation's expectations," Stacey said.
Stipends will be used to compensate teachers for extra time, and financial incentives will be provided for academic success among students, teachers and administrators.
Funds for equipment and technology will also be provided, according to the College Board.
"It's about time that we are more proactive with education," Stacey said. "Anything that we can do to encourage students to try harder is a good thing."
Some at the University say increases in college-placement tests are a good thing for Auburn.
"It's wonderful that Alabama is leading the nation in AP participation and performance, because that means that we have attracted top students to Auburn University," said Angela Waldon, University Administrative Support Associate.
Stacey said these increases show Alabama can compete with other states.
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