This year’s AP exam results have shown continued rise from previous years following the removal of M-A’s advanced freshman English, freshman biology, and sophomore chemistry courses. For many of these classes, these scores are the first look as to whether or not removing advanced classes would lead to lower performance in more rigorous classes.
In last year’s AP English Language & Composition, AP Biology, and AP Chemistry classes, all students came from the “detracked” course pathway for the first time. Previously, “tracked” courses separated students into classes of varying difficulties, but the District removed these options in 2021 to lower student stress and create more diverse learning environments in freshman and sophomore courses.
Before the implementation of detracking, exam scores generally improved each year. As a result, many parents have voiced concerns that detracked classes wouldn’t sufficiently prepare students for upperclassman advanced courses. Several candidates running for the District board are also campaigning in favor of reinstating tracked classes for the same reasons.
However, all AP teachers interviewed reported little to no noticeable drop in student performance in the classroom and overall AP scores have continued to increase. Class data also reveals that more students took AP English Language, AP Biology, and AP Chemistry classes after being enrolled in detracked classes their freshman and sophomore years.
M-A saw more students take AP exams than in any year prior and our students have passed those exams at a higher rate than any year prior.
Principal Karl Losekoot
“M-A saw more students take AP exams than in any year prior and our students have passed those exams at a higher rate than any year prior,” Principal Karl Losekoot said in a recent Bear Notes community message.
AP scores are a uniquely objective measure of student preparedness and performance. Compared to classroom grades, which can fluctuate depending on the teacher, AP exams are administered by an external organization. AP scores also come with national performance data, contextualizing M-A’s performance with the rest of the country.
In the 2023-24 school year, M-A shattered its own test-taking records. In the same message, Losekoot reported that 766 students took a total number of 1,855 exams—some of the highest numbers in M-A history. M-A’s pass rate (scoring a 3 or higher) was 94%, and 41% of these scores were 5s—the highest possible score.
M-A’s average AP English Language scores and pass rates have consistently increased: 95.8% of M-A students passed the 2024 exam compared to 54.6% of students nationally. Not only did more M-A students pass the exam this year, but a significant portion passed with a 4 or 5.
M-A’s AP Biology scores and pass rate also increased. Like AP English Language, these performances generally positively diverged from national averages.
While both AP Chemistry scores and pass rates stayed around the same, they drew closer to the national average. A tripled class enrollment between the 2021-22 to 2022-23 school years, and continued high enrollment in 2023-24 could account for the convergence.
See a more thorough analysis of each class on the tabs below.
AP English Language
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95.8% of M-A students passed the AP English Language exam last year, compared to 54.6% of students nationally.
Both M-A’s AP English Language scores and pass rates increased steadily between 2021 and 2024. M-A students performed better on the AP English Language exams, even as total class enrollment peaked at 165 students.
M-A students averaged a 3.87 in 2021, 4.01 in 2022, and 4.07 in 2023. Last year, the average M-A student scored a 4.18, while the national average was 2.79.
Preparation for the AP English Language first starts after freshmen complete Multicultural Literature and Voice, their detracked English class. They then move on to tracked course options in sophomore year: either English II or AS English II, which prepares students for AP English Language.
Erin Walsh, who teaches both MCLV and AS English II, noted that AS English II enrollment has remained consistent following the introduction of MCLV.
Walsh also noted that students who take AS English II after MCLV are still well-prepared. “Our freshman English team has done a lot to improve our curriculum and make it so that students are more prepared for sophomore classes. We’ve switched to almost entirely hand-written essays, close-reading with language, or argumentative prompts, because that is what we do in AS [English] II,” she said.
This year, AP English Language teacher David Rosenberg found that his students “came in with a work ethic and were generally prepared.”
“I just finished looking at all [my students’] thesis statements, and I’d like to give accolades to the department’s AS English II teachers,” he continued.
However, even as AP English Language enrollment peaked last year, it dropped this year. Class size numbers are influenced by a number of factors, from the popularity of the teacher of the course to the perception of the course’s difficulty. 165 students took AP English Language last year, but now only 137 students take the class.
AP Biology
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Although the juniors in AP Biology in 2022-23 took fully detracked biology, the seniors in that pool did not. This means that last school year, 2023-24, was the first year with all AP Biology students emerging from the detracked biology pathway.
While AP Biology signups dropped in 2022-23, they jumped back up in 2023-24. There are currently 92 students taking AP Biology—one of the the highest class sizes in the history of the AP Biology course.
Patrick Roisen, who teaches both AP and detracked biology, noted that detracked classes prepared students for higher level biology classes and relieved students from unnecessary stress.
“There is a common misguided perception that if you have tracking, each class is optimized for the students. However, very often, these classes are not optimized for the students that are in there,” Roisen said.
AP Chemistry
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M-A’s AP Chemistry pass rate has increased from 78.8% in 2018-19 to 80.0% the past year. However, M-A’s performance and the national curve also moved closer together.
Matt Sandora, who has taught AS and AP Chemistry, noticed slight changes in his students’ prior knowledge coming into AP Chemistry. “I am doing more helping with math than before, but I think we still end up at the same place,” Sandora said.
“When they first started doing detracked Chemistry, it was not as math-y—it depended on the teacher. I think that, in the last few years, they’ve raised the bar a little bit more,” he said. “I would say that I haven’t seen a major drop-off when it’s gone to no tracking.”
The 2022-23 school year was the first year when juniors taking AP Chemistry came from detracked Chemistry. AP Chemistry enrollment nearly tripled from 36 students in the 2021-22 school year to 98 in 2022-23, and subsequently 112 in 2023-24. However, that number dropped back down to 78 this year, which, although significantly greater than previous years, is still a 25% drop.
You can read more about last year’s AP Chemistry scores here.
Due to the pandemic, all 2020 AP exams were significantly shortened and also covered less material. This unexpected variation is why all 2019-20 and some 2020-21 data are excluded from the graphs.
The M-A Chronicle received data provided from Infinite Campus and College Board. College Board has since restricted access to data from before the 2019-2020 school year for all teachers and administrators. Because not all teachers were able to save their AP score data from before 2019-2020, the amount of data reflected per subject is inconsistent.
Read more of the M-A Chronicle’s detracking coverage here.
