MMSD Sets District Records for Advanced Placement Testing

For the 2023–24 academic year, the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) set records for the number of students who took at least one Advanced Placement (AP) examination and the number of exams administered to those students. 

In May, the district saw 1,845 students take a cumulative 3,803 AP tests over the course of two weeks at the Alliant Energy Center, representing an approximate 12% increase of 191 students, and an approximate 19% increase of 602 exams, over records set the previous year. MMSD’s pass rate was 76%, with an average score of 3.4 (out of a possible 5).

In most cases, AP offerings give students the opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school; accordingly, they are designed to be as rigorous and challenging as college-level courses, requiring participating students to do more independent study and display greater mastery of content than traditional honors courses. 

"As a district, we encourage students to push themselves in the classroom, and we are heartened by the steady rise we have seen in our AP participation rate," said Mary Jankovich, MMSD’s executive director of secondary programs and pathways. "In many ways, our students’ increased interest in accelerated learning is a testament to the solid foundations they have built at the elementary and middle school levels, and positions them well for post-secondary success.”

AP courses offer benefits that extend beyond the classroom as well, particularly in the form of cost savings. Research shows that, because the majority of colleges and universities accept AP credits earned in high school, more AP students earn a degree on time (i.e., within the expected four years of undergraduate study) than their peers, helping them avoid the tuition associated with additional years of schooling.

"Doing well on the exams may provide college credit—the pay-off at the end of a year of hard work—but the ultimate reward lies in the journey," said Tim Peterson, MMSD's director of assessment. "In addition to our dedicated students, there are a number of people across the district who are directly responsible for the growth of our AP participation, including high school guidance counselors, AP teachers and coordinators, as well as our AVID program, and they deserve kudos for their efforts.”

Further information regarding MMSD’s AP offerings—which span core subjects, like mathematics and language arts, as well as electives, like music theory and African American studies—is available in the course catalogs hosted on the MMSD website.