The College Board has released the data from the most recent round of Advanced Placement (AP) testing and Georgia performed well, ranked 16th among states. The percentage of Georgia students taking an AP test who scored a 3 or higher was 21 percent for the class of 2023, approximately the same rate from the Class of 2022 of 21.2 percent.
“I congratulate the class of 2023 on their excellent performance on the Advanced Placement exams,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “This is another indicator that shows our state is on the road to academic recovery. I’m proud of these students, their teachers, and their families – and as a state, we will continue our efforts to offer a variety of options and opportunities that allow students to pursue accelerated learning while still in high school.”
Georgia’s overall participation in AP exams was 18th in the country, with 33.6 percent of students taking at least one exam. Notably, Georgia had a better performance than nearly all other Southern states. Georgia students scored higher than their peers in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. If you count Florida as the South, Florida runs away with the lead among Southern schools on AP exams, regularly ranking in the top three nationwide for scores. Virginia also scores higher than Georgia, ranking 11th in 2022 compared to Georgia’s 15th.
Georgia’s overall education system is ranked right around the middle by U.S. News and World Report, one of the education ranking behemoths. The state ranked 27th in the latest edition, ahead of most of the South but behind Florida again, who took the top spot. North Carolina also ranked higher at 16th, boosted by a top 10 in the nation score for higher education. Several other Southern states – Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana – were all in the bottom 10.
U.S. News also compiles the rankings of Best High Schools, where Georgia also performs well, ranked 18th overall. Just over six percent of our schools are ranked in the top 5 percent nationwide, a comparable number to most of the country, where the leader only has 10 percent of schools ranked in the top 5 percent. Where Georgia really shines though is number of schools in the top quartile, with more than 25 percent of the state’s schools ranked in that category.
The top three AP exams in Georgia are historic standards, English, U.S. History and World History all had more than 14,000 exams taken. The smallest number? The brave 117 students statewide who took on the 3-D Art and Design AP test – yes, apparently that is available as an AP test, presumably at a limited number of schools.
According to U.S. News, 43 percent of Georgians are college educated and AP exams offer a big leg up for students heading off to university. The 123,000+ exams taken in 2023 represent more than 369,000 college credits, amounting to a potential tuition cost savings of $102 million.
