This is the sixth year that the Belin-Blank Center presents the Iowa AP Index.

The Iowa AP Index is an indicator of Advanced Placement (AP®) opportunities for Iowa students. The Iowa AP Index recognizes accredited public and non-public Iowa high schools for providing AP opportunities and applauds students for their willingness to step up to the academic challenge.

We recognize that a number of high schools offer college-level options that are not AP. We encourage schools to continue these efforts. The Iowa AP Index focuses only on AP opportunities.

Background

In May 2009, more than 1.6 million high school students took more than 2.9 million AP exams (College Board, 2010). Participation in AP allows students to pursue college-level studies while still in high school. AP exams provide a uniform standard of academic accomplishment across geography, economic status, ethnicity, and school size. AP exams cover 33 subject areas. Exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 considered top-level work in a corresponding college course. A score of 3 or better is accepted at more than 3,600 college and universities for either college credit or advanced placement in college courses.

Although there is some controversy concerning the Advanced Placement program (e.g., too much material covered in too short a time; more breadth than depth), research supports that AP courses and exams are a rigorous and meaningful indicator of academic preparation for college (Geiser & Santelices, 2004). A National Center for Educational Achievement study (2005) shows that success on AP exams is a strong and consistent predictor of college graduation rates. Keng and Dodd (2008) report that ”AP Credit students consistently outperformed non-AP students of similar academic ability in all college outcome measures” (p. 1). Keng and Dodd defined college outcome measures as first-year credit hours and GPA, subject or subject area credit hours and GPA, overall college credit hours and GPA, and subsequent course grade.

Iowa and AP

The AP program began in the mid-1950s on the East Coast, and although it has become, according to former U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley, ”the gold standard,” it was not prevalent in Iowa. Iowa’s historically low participation may be attributed to the high number of rural schools in the state. Regardless, until only a few years ago, Iowa ranked among the lowest in the nation on AP exams per student population.

Iowa Online Advanced Placement Academy

In 2001, the Iowa Online AP Academy (IOAPA) was established with the support of Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). The Belin-Blank Center and the Iowa Department of Education received federal grant funding to provide online AP courses, exams, and materials to all students at accredited high schools in Iowa. Together, the Belin-Blank Center and the Iowa Department of Education have made a concerted effort to bring AP opportunities to the schools of Iowa, especially to rural schools, so that geography will not determine educational opportunity.

IOAPA has been a tremendously successful program. The number of schools in Iowa offering AP opportunities and the number of Iowa students taking AP exams has increased substantially since 2001. Although the number of exams has increased, the performance for Iowa students remains high. In 2009, 65.6% of Iowa’s students scored a 3 or better on the AP exams, which compares favorably to the 2009 national average of 58.4% of students who scored a 3 or better.

Changes in AP for Iowa from Year 2001 to Year 2009*

	Year
Indicators of Growth in Iowa*	2001	2009
Number of high schools that offered at least one AP exam	156	218
Number of AP exams taken	5,995	12,512
Number of students taking at least one AP exam	4,069	8,298
Percentage of exams with a score of 3 or higher	67%	65.6%

*Based on College Board data which includes accredited and non-accredited Iowa schools.

Senior Year Plus program

In 2008, the Iowa legislature passed the Senior Year Plus program (Iowa Code 261E). The program “was created to provide increased and more equal access to college credit and advancement placement courses” (Senior Year Plus: Guide for Educators and Educational Administrators, November 2009, from the Iowa Department of Education, p. 5). The Senior Year Plus statute (Iowa Code 261E.4) “compels all school districts to make AP courses available to students” (p. 14).

Schools that are “unable to offer AP® courses directly may expand opportunities to students through the Iowa Online AP® Academy (IOAPA)” (Senior Year Plus: Guide for Educators and Educational Administrators, November 2009, from the Iowa Department of Education, p. 14).

Advanced Placement Teaching Training Institute

The Belin-Blank Center hosts the Advanced Placement Teacher Training Institute (APTTI) so that teachers can be prepared to deliver AP courses successfully. The next APTTI will be in Des Moines, July 12-16, 2010.

The Senior Year Plus program includes a provision for teacher preparation for teaching AP courses: “A school district shall ensure that advanced placement course teachers are appropriately licensed by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners in accordance with Iowa Code Chapter 272 and meet the minimum certification requirements of the national organization that administers the advanced placement program” (Senior Year Plus: Guide for Educators and Educational Administrators, November 2009, from the Iowa Department of Education, p. 14).

Through the use of online technology (i.e., IOAPA) and summer professional development (i.e., APTTI), the Belin-Blank Center serves Iowa in making access to AP a reality for all of Iowa’s high school students and teachers.

Every public and non-public high school in Iowa that is accredited by the state Department of Education and that administered at least one AP exam in May 2009 was invited to participate in the 2010 AP Index.

Magnet schools, Specially Accredited College Preparatory High Schools, non-accredited schools, and home schools are not included in the AP Index ranking. (See Note 2 for recognition of Magnet and Specially Accredited College Preparatory Schools.)

The Iowa AP Index for a given high school is the ratio of AP exams taken by its students (any grade) divided by the number of its graduating seniors.

Iowa AP Index =

Number of AP exams taken Number of graduates

For reference, an AP Index of 1.00 means that the number of AP exams for that school equals the number of graduates. A high AP Index means that a school is offering AP courses and that the school has developed a culture whereby students are encouraged to take AP courses and exams. The Iowa AP Index provides a fair comparison of AP opportunity across school size.

The number of graduating seniors per school was provided by the Iowa Department of Education, and the number of AP exams administered per school was provided by the College Board.

The 2010 Iowa AP Index is based on the AP exams taken in May 2009 and seniors graduating in May/June 2009. In 2008-2009, there were 377 (351 public and 26 non-public) accredited high schools, according to the Iowa Department of Education’s Condition of Education report. Of these 377 accredited high schools, 215 (193 public and 22 non-public), or 57% of schools, had at least one student take an AP exam in 2009. Of the 209 schools eligible for the 2010 AP Index (i.e., not magnet and Specially Accredited College Preparatory Schools School), 97% (202 schools; 186 public and 16 non-public) agreed to participate in the 2010 Iowa AP Index.

Iowa’s Top 50 Schools for 2010

The Top 50 schools on the 2010 Index range from rural to urban, public to non-public, and they span the state’s geography. There are 42 public and 8 non-public schools in the top 50.

The #1 school on the 2010 Iowa AP Index is George Washington High School in Cedar Rapids. John F. Kennedy High School, also in Cedar Rapids, is ranked #2. West High School in Iowa City ranked #3. Ames High School in Ames and Roosevelt High School in Des Moines are ranked #4 and #5, respectively. The highest ranking non-public school, at #7, is Regina High School in Iowa City. The school with the smallest graduating class (14 graduates in 2009) in the Top 50 is Prince of Peace College Preparatory, ranked #16, in Clinton. The school with the largest graduating class (550 graduates in 2009) is Valley High School, ranked #8, in West Des Moines.

Each participating school received its 2010 Iowa AP Index in a letter. We suggest comparing the 2010 Index with the 2009 Index. If the 2010 Index is higher, this indicates progress regarding AP opportunities.

The Belin-Blank Center sends a Certificate of Recognition to all the schools ranked in the top 50. In addition, the top 25 schools will be honored at the annual Belin-Blank Recognition Ceremony on Sunday, October 17, 2010, at The University of Iowa.

The Iowa AP Index for all public high schools in Iowa

We calculated a 2010 AP Index score for all the accredited public schools in Iowa (excluding the non-public schools) based on all exams taken by Iowa students in 2009 and all 2009 graduating seniors in Iowa public schools (using graduation data from p. 225 of the Iowa Department of Education’s Condition of Education report).

2010 Iowa AP Index for all Public High Schools in Iowa

=

12,512 Exams 34,573 Grads

=

0.36

Thus, one AP exam was taken for approximately every three students graduating from an accredited Iowa public high school.

For comparison, the 2009 AP Index for all Iowa accredited public high schools was 0.31. Thus, the 2010 Index for all public schools indicates a slight increase in AP opportunities in the state compared to 2009.

References

Notes

Note 1: The Iowa AP Index is a modification of the Challenge Index

We thank Jay Mathews of the Washington Post for granting us permission to modify his Challenge Index to create the AP Index.

Magnet schools and Specially Accredited College Preparatory High Schools are not included in the AP Index ranking, but they are recognized by the Belin-Blank Center for their AP opportunities.

The Belin-Blank Center recognizes Des Moines Central Academy, a nationally-known magnet school, for its outstanding offering of a wide variety of AP courses, as well as the excellent performance of its students. Its 2010 AP Index of 6.20 puts it into a class of its own.

The Belin-Blank Center recognizes Rivermont Collegiate, in Bettendorf, which is one of the state’s Specially Accredited College Preparatory Schools. Rivermont Collegiate places special emphasis on AP coursework and exams, as is reflected in its 2010 AP Index of 2.21.

Note 3: School district obligations for offering AP courses

In 2008, the Iowa legislature passed the Senior Year Plus program (Iowa Code 261E) “to provide increased and more equal access to college credit and advancement placement courses” (Senior Year Plus: Guide for Educators and Educational Administrators, November 2009, from the Iowa Department of Education, p. 5). The Senior Year Plus statute (Iowa Code 261E.4) “compels all school districts to make AP courses available to students” (p. 14).

Parents and students should expect that school districts will comply with the state code that defines school district obligations for providing advanced coursework. The School District Obligations are detailed in Senior Year Plus: Guide for Educators and Educational Administrators on page 14.