MORE HIGH SCHOOLERS TAKING COLLEGE COURSES

More Missouri high school students are taking college level courses that can earn them credit before ever enrolling at a university.

Slightly more than 7,000 Missouri students took Advanced Placement tests last school year to try to earn college credits through a program administered by the College Board. That was a 12 percent increase over the number of test takers the previous year.

"I believe this trend reflects the effort by many high schools to create a more rigorous academic climate," said state education commissioner Kent King.

The same holds true in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, guidance counselors said. At Cape Girardeau Central High School, 37 students took Advanced Placement tests in 2001, up from 22 in 2000. At Jackson High School, 48 students took the tests in 2001, which was also up from 2000.

"I think more of our kids want to get an early jump," said Cape Girardeau Central High School guidance counselor Katy Andersson. "They know the importance of taking academically challenging courses and they want to challenge themselves. They just can't take the fun courses their senior year."

More classes offered

Sarah Nusbaum, a guidance counselor at Jackson High School, said more classes are being offered and students see it as a good opportunity to save money.

"You can take a test for $77, get up to three and five credits at a university," she said. "But the main reason is that kids are just wanting to earn college credit while in high school."

The College Board, based in New York, also administers the SAT, which is the predominant college entry exam nationally but was taken by only 8 percent of Missouri's 2001 high school graduates.

Most Missouri students take the ACT college entry exam, which is preferred by schools in the Midwest. The SAT is used more frequently on the East Coast.

In the Advanced Placement program, students are taught college-level coursework by high school teachers and then can take a standardized test for college credit.

The exams are graded on a five-point scale and students must earn a three, four or five to qualify for college credit. Students can take the tests in several different subjects.

In Missouri, 7,034 students took a total of 11,757 exams last school year with a passing rate of 69 percent. Nationally, students took nearly 1.4 million Advanced Placement exams last school year with a passing rate of 61 percent.

Success rate drops

Although the success rate of Missouri students was high, it was down slightly from a 72 percent passage rate for the class of 2000.

Plus, "our overall participation rate in Advanced Placement is still lower than in surrounding states," Jim Morris, a spokesman for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said Tuesday. "But the trend is rapid growth in the past five years."

Missouri students also scored above the national average on the SAT exam.

But the SAT typically is taken by Missouri students in the upper tiers of their classes who are hoping to go to Ivy League and certain other out-of-state schools, Morris said.

A total of 4,575 Missouri students took the test last year, down 5.6 percent from the previous year.

Out of a maximum score of 800 in each category, Missouri students averaged a score of 577 on both the verbal and math sections. Nationally, the nearly 1.3 million test takers averaged a score of 506 on the verbal section and 514 on the math section.