Advanced Placement Achievement Rate Improves

Pre-K Partners ELC (Pontotoc City only) were added in April.

The new ELCs will serve more than 3,500 pre-K 4-year-olds in 52 new classrooms and 136 existing classrooms. More than 6,800 total ELC students will be served in the 2022-2023 school year.

The Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013 established the ELC program, which provides funding to local communities to establish, expand, support and facilitate the successful implementation of quality pre-K early childhood education and development services. The main goal of establishing ELCs is to better prepare preschoolers for kindergarten.

In spring 2022, 65.12% of ELC students met the end-of-year target score, compared to 61.53% of students in other public pre-K classrooms, which included a variety of class configurations, including Title I, self-contained special education and other school district pre-K programs.

In 2022, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) recognized Mississippi as one of only five states that met all quality standards for pre-K.

“One of MDE’s top goals is for every child to have access to a high-quality early childhood program, and the expansion of ELCs in the state helps us do that,” said Dr. Kim Benton, interim state superintendent of education. “This continual investment from Mississippi lawmakers supports greater outcomes for students and the state as a whole.”

Mississippi’s graduating class of 2021 achieved a 39.1% qualifying score rate for Advanced Placement (AP) exams, an increase from the previous year’s achievement rate of 38.2%.

AP courses are college-level courses offered by trained high school teachers. Students can earn three college credits for every AP exam they pass with a qualifying score of 3 or higher.

Among the class of 2021, 18.2% (4,972) of graduates took a total of 10,865 AP exams during their high school experience, according to the College Board’s AP Cohort Report for Class of 2021. Though achievement on AP increased, the number of students taking AP exams declined. Among the class of 2020, 20.7% (5,235) of graduates took a total of 11,526 AP exams.

Though the class of 2021 saw a drop in AP participation, overall, the number of Mississippi students taking AP courses and passing AP exams have both nearly doubled since 2013.

“AP courses provide students with a rigorous level of learning and help them develop the study skills they need to be successful in college,” said Dr. Carey Wright, recently retired state superintendent of education. “The AP experience also helps colleges and universities identify students who can master college-level material.”

Mississippi’s AP policy entitles students who score 3 or higher on an AP exam to earn at least three college credits at any Mississippi public university or community college. This policy has the potential to save Mississippi families millions of dollars on college tuition. In Mississippi, public and private high school students earned 5,914 AP qualifying scores of 3, 4 or 5 in 2021. These scores translate into a potential savings of close to $5.2 million in tuition for students and their families because each qualifying score is worth at least three college credits.

Research shows AP students are better prepared for college and more likely to graduate college in four years than non-AP participant peers. Students earning college credit can save what they would otherwise have to pay for another year of college.