More Dist. 214 students take advanced placement exams

Here's one way to beat college costs - take advanced placement courses in high school. It can save a family thousands of dollars.

The number of advanced placement tests taken in District 214 has more than doubled over the past seven years, according to school officials.

Any student planning on attending a four-year university should be taking at least one AP test," said Superintendent David Schuler at Thursday's school board meeting. "Earning AP credit saves a family thousands of dollars that would be spent on those college courses."

Advanced placement classes are college-level courses high schoolers take to earn college credit. Students can take more than one advanced placement test and they don't have to enroll in an advanced placement class to take the test.

In 2001 about 2,100 advanced placement tests were taken in Northwest Suburban High School District 214. That figure rose to more than 4,400 tests in 2008, according to District 214 data. The number of students taking at least one advanced placement test rose from 1,768 in 2004 to 2,481 in 2008.

Despite the increased number of test takers the pass rate - earning a score of three or higher - increased a half percent, said Rosemary Gonzalez-Pinnick, associate superintendent for educational services.

"Taking these classes greatly increases a student's chances of completing college in four years," Gonzalez-Pinnick said.

In 2007-08 alone there were 309 more test takers compared to the previous school year, according to the data. The exam pass rate for these tests was about 80 percent.

Schuler contributed the rise in numbers to school officials getting the word out early about advanced placement courses. School officials are sending out letters and hosting meetings with parents of eighth-graders, where a District 214 recent graduate talks about how advanced classes helped him or her in college.

"I've had two families tell me their students were able to enroll at Illinois schools as sophomores because of all the AP classes they took in high school," said District 214 school board President Lenore Gonzales Bragaw.