Advanced Level Courses

 

Bellevue encourages ALL students to take challenging coursework including Advanced Placement, AP and International Baccalaureate, IB classes in high school. The following broadcast was produced in 2000 and offers the views of students, teachers, counselors, and others on why AP and IB courses are the right courses for all students View our 12 min. video featuring an interview with Jay Mathews, "The AP/IB Challenge is for ALL Students" (click here for Windows Media Video stream)

Students in grades 9-12 may participate in Advanced Placement (AP) courses; in addition, a full International Baccalaureate (IB) program is offered at Interlake High School. The chart below shows a history of AP/IB test taking in Bellevue. In contrast to many districts around the country, we encourage all our high schoolers to take AP and/or IB courses. Even with our broad participation, the percentage of AP exams receiving a "passing" score (at least a 3 on the 5-point AP scale) continues to exceed the national average.  

According to the College Board, about 15% of high school graduates nationwide earn a passing score on at least one AP exam during high school, and this statistic is similar for Washington State graduates (press release details here).  In Bellevue, however, more than 61% of our Class of 2009 graduates achieved this distinction.

 Recent research has shown that passing at least one AP exam in high school positively impacts students' college completion rate (details at the College Board's website). Per the report's summary:  "Simply said, a high-quality AP course in high school does an excellent job of fortifying students for a successful transition into the battery of college courses they'll experience in their first semester at college."

Newsweek's 2009 "Challenge Index" again ranks Bellevue schools among the 100 top schools in the country for AP and IB test taking

Jay Mathews, Washington Post education writer and strong proponent of AP for the majority of our nation’s high school students, developed the Challenge Index to showcase school systems that are opening the doors to AP for large numbers of students. The index is not a scientific rating scale. It simply divides the number of AP and IB tests taken at a school by the number of graduates. Mathews maintains that the ratio should be at least one-to-one, that is, at least one test for every graduate.

Periodically, Mathews ranks high schools across the country according to their Challenge Indexes.  In the most recent Index of the nation's top-ranked 1,500 schools, all five of Bellevue's high schools are once again included. 

The table below shows our schools' positions per Jay Mathews' Challenge Index listing of 2008 graduates, as reported in Newsweek, 06/08/2009 (complete 2009 listing):

AP course rigor in core subjects

Because our goal is to prepare all students for college success, we also look at the subject areas in which students earn AP credits. Are our students taking challenging coursework in the core areas of English, social studies, math and science...in addition to elective subjects such as music, art and languages?

 AP Test taking history by subject area

For a breakdown of recent AP exam totals and pass rates for each AP course: 2009; 2008; 2007

2009 AP score distribution by school, by subject

Summary breakdown of IB exam score information: 2009; 2008;  2007

Participation in AP and IB coursework is still increasing

As of October 2009, our high-schoolers were enrolled in more than 7,300 AP and IB courses - an increase of about 500 course enrollments over the previous fall.

The chart below shows the percentage of students in each grade level enrolled in at least one AP or IB course, as of October 2009:  

Grade level	% in AP/IB
12	81%
11	75%
10	59%
9	9%

Note:  Counts exclude Robinswood High, Kelsey Creek Home School, and students in centered special education settings.