Welcome to TBO.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online

TBO > News

About Advanced Placement Classes

By MARILYN BROWN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2008

The Classes

• Advanced Placement courses have their own curriculum and tests and are considered to be college-level work. A score of at least 3 out of 5 on AP tests may earn college credit. A national company, the College Board, produces and sells the AP curriculum and tests as well as PSAT and SAT college entrance exams.

• Hillsborough County is pushing AP courses. This year it added College Board's SpringBoard curriculum in English and math to every middle and high school. The classes are supposed to prepare students for AP classes.

The Money

• The district gets about 15 percent more funding per student. AP teachers get $50 — up to a maximum of $2,000 a year — for each student who scores a 3 or higher on the AP exam. Teachers in high poverty schools get an extra $500 bonus if their students pass the test.

• Superintendent MaryEllen Elia also earns bonus money for increases in numbers of students taking AP courses and exams, increases in students scoring 3 or higher on AP exams and percentage point increases in the number of minority students taking AP exams. Last year, $7,850 of Elia's $37,620 bonus was AP related. This year's bonus has not been released.

Hillsborough's Increasing AP Numbers

2005-06: 14,561 AP tests taken; 45 percent pass rate
2006-07: 15,066 AP tests taken; 45 percent pass rate
2007-08: 20,293 AP tests taken; 38 percent pass rate
2008-09: 27,012 AP tests taken

Share this: