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Saturday, February 6, 2010

Local News | Rigorous college-prep classes skyrocketing in Washington state | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Rigorous college-prep classes skyrocketing in Washington state | Seattle Times Newspaper:

"A decade ago, most Seattle-area high schools offered just a handful of rigorous classes that provided a way to earn college credit while supercharging a transcript. And only students with top grades were allowed to sign up. But in 10 years, the intensive, fast-paced Advanced Placement (AP) classes have skyrocketed in this state."

A decade ago, most Seattle-area high schools offered just a handful of rigorous classes that provided a way to earn college credit while supercharging a transcript. And only students with top grades were allowed to sign up.
But in 10 years, the intensive, fast-paced Advanced Placement (AP) classes have skyrocketed in this state.
In 2008, fully one-quarter of Washington public-school seniors took at least one AP test during their high-school years, compared with 10 percent in 1997. In some schools, almost every student takes an AP class in junior or senior year.
And other schools around the state are moving fast to add AP classes and expand participation, in part because college admissions officials say the demanding classes do a good job of preparing students for higher