Megan Raposa

mraposa@argusleader.com

Fewer students enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) classes lasts year than the year before, but the overall pass rate is up in Sioux Falls.

Sioux Falls school board members heard a report Monday night from Kristin Grinager, high school curriculum coordinator outlining the AP results from the 2015-16 school year.

Students who pass AP tests may receive college credit. For example, a student who passes an AP biology exam can use that test score to receive a biology college credit.

Nearly 40 percent of high school juniors and seniors in Sioux Falls took an AP course last year, and 84 percent of those students took the exam, which costs $92 to take.

Most of those students passed the exam. Sioux Falls had a pass rate of 70.7 percent, up from 67 percent in the 2014-15 school year. The national average for 2016 was not yet available, Grinager said, but the average for last year was a 60.5 percent pass rate.

Enrollment in almost all areas of AP courses was down slightly, which Superintendent Brian Maher said could be partly due to a smaller senior class.

STEM courses saw the largest dip in enrollment, specifically biology, which dropped by almost one-third.

More than 350 AP students received awards for their performance on AP exams. Grinager said the district will continue working to grow the AP program in Sioux Falls and to welcome more students.

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