BY BRYAN SABELLA
Staff Writer
East Brunswick, North Brunswick, Edison’s J.P. Stevens High School, and Metuchen all show higher percentages of students in AP courses than the state average of 28.8 percent.
East Brunswick High School has an extremely high percentage of its student body taking part in AP courses, 62.2 percent, more than twice the state average.
Edison’s J.P. Stevens came in at 43.3 percent, North Brunswick High School at 39.7 percent, and Metuchen at 32 percent.
East Brunswick Deputy Superintendent Evelyn Ogden offered two reasons as to why the AP participation is so high in her district.
“AP courses are hard, and most students enjoy the challenge; 92 percent of our students go to college,” she said. “And we have a high percentage of students in our honors courses that lead up to AP courses. ”
In many schools only a fraction of the students taking Advanced Placement courses actually take the AP tests, but in East Brunswick, an unusually high number, 817 out of 962 students, took the test last year.
Of those taking the test 92.6 percent passed, Ogden said; 757 of those 817 students scored a 3 or better, and 36 percent of them attained the highest score of 5.
“That’s extraordinary,” Ogden said of those numbers.
A score of 3 or better means that many colleges will accept an AP course as applying to a student’s overall college credits.
“We strongly encourage students to take the test,” Ogden said.
“Sometimes it’s just a matter of philosophy,” she said of schools with lower percentages of students taking the test.
Edison Assistant Superintendent Rose Traficante had a theory of her own as to why so few students in AP courses take the test.
“I think a big reason is that they want to take that area [that they are studying in AP courses] as a specialty or major in college,” she said. “They don’t want to test out of a course; they want to take the full complement of courses [in their area] in college.”
Traficante said that, for instance, only one of the 107 students taking AP physics took the test and only eight out of 109 students in AP chemistry took the test last year.
“My feeling is those students want to [be] math, science or technology majors in college. They’re building a base,” Traficante said.
The high level of participation in AP courses reflects the district’s commitment to a “deep, wide and challenging curriculum,” Traficante said.
“We’ve always stressed a commitment to higher and secondary education,” Metuchen Superintendent of Schools Theresa Sinatra said of the 183 borough students taking AP courses.
Just under half of those students took the test. Of those 90 students, 77 scored a 3 or better. “Some schools require students to take the test — we do not,” Sinatra said.
Sinatra said Metuchen may consider expanding its AP offerings in the near future.
Calls seeking comment from North Brunswick Schools Superintendent Dr. Robert Rimmer were not returned.