AP test results: See how New York, Long Island fared

New York, for the third consecutive year, maintained its high state ranking in Advanced Placement testing, while hundreds of high schools statewide and on Long Island won individual honors, test sponsors reported.

The latest results, for 2024, show that New York upped its academic performance while also holding onto its second-place position among states. Rankings were based on the percentage  of public-school graduates who passed at least one college-level AP test.

New York tied with New Jersey and was outranked only by Massachusetts, according to testing officials at the Manhattan-based College Board.

A total of 30.7% of public-school graduates in New York, or more than 52,000 students, met the requirements for recognition in 2024, up from 28.9% in 2023, according to College Board. The state results topped the national average by more than eight points, ahead of competing states such as Connecticut at 29.5%, California, 28.2% and Virginia, 27.2%

AP exams typically take two to three hours to complete, according to sponsors. Tests cover more than three dozen subjects, ranging from calculus and physics to art history and music theory. The state rankings were announced Feb. 25.

In an earlier posting, College Board named more than 400 public and private high schools statewide, including 107 on the Island, to its 2024 AP Honor Roll. To qualify, schools must meet specific requirements, such as completion by 40% or more of graduates of at least one college-level course.

“We are pleased that New York continues to be a national leader in AP participation and performance,” said JP O’Hare, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Education, in an email to Newsday. O’Hare added that the state’s intent was to extend such opportunities to students in schools that do not offer AP courses.

AP honor roll

In Nassau and Suffolk Counties, top-quality college-level courses for high school students are already widely available, a Newsday analysis found. For example, more than two-thirds of the 122 public high schools located in the region are listed on the latest AP honor roll. Eleven schools offer another college program known as International Baccalaureate.

The AP’s honor roll offers four levels of distinction: platinum, gold, silver and bronze. School designations depend on the rate at which students take and pass those exams with a minimum score of 3 out of 5. Another measure is the percentage of students taking a minimum of five exams during four years of high school, with at least one test taken in 9th or 10th grade.

Platinum honors in the region went to 17 recipients, including Jericho High School, North Shore High School in Glen Head and Plainview-Old Bethpage High School. Also on the list were tiny Shelter Island High School on the East End; Chaminade High School, a Catholic academy in Mineola; and the Stony Brook School, a Christian academy.

College-level work by students in such schools is often the norm. Jericho reported, for example, that 90% of its Class of 2024 completed AP courses, and that a dozen of those teens completed 14 or 15 courses each. 

Brian Cummings, the school’s interim co-principal, compared its AP rating to an academic star.

On a recent afternoon at Jericho High, a class of 11th graders enrolled in AP English Language and Composition engaged in PowerPoint panel discussions. One panel of three delivered its findings on the question of, “Is it advisable to strive for perfection whether it’s attainable or not?”

Presentations went on for about 15 minutes, with brief references to the philosophers Plato, Aristotle and Jean-Paul Sartre, together with rapid-fire Q&A’s between panelists and their student audience. At the end, the teacher, Erin Zimmerman, explained why she smiled broadly throughout the session. 

“We kind of energize each other,” Zimmerman said of her class. 

Gold, silver and bronze

In other categories, 31 Long Island schools took gold, 40 silver and 19 bronze. The mix included the school districts of Riverhead and Baldwin, which both earned silver, and Farmingdale and Deer Park, which were named to the bronze level.

Also on the roster was Academy Charter High School in Hempstead, which is public, and a substantial number of non-public schools including Jewish yeshivas, Catholic academies and independent prep schools.

St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington Station, which is run by a Franciscan religious order, was named to the gold level. 

Ths school’s principal, Brother David Migliorino, recalled his recent reaction as he wrote a letter recommending one of his 12th graders for a university scholarship. Reviewing the student’s records, the school chief discovered the teen was taking six AP courses, along with a required class in theology.

“I was kind of blown away by that,” the principal said. 

St. Anthony’s, which was founded in 1933, occupies a sprawling campus with about 2,500 students. 

Academy Charter School, which opened in 2016, has grown from 125 students to 540 students in eight years, and occupies a five-story building in downtown Hempstead Village. The school has been cited for success in educating students whose families face financial challenges —more than 70% are economically disadvantaged, according to the SUNY Charter Schools Institute. 

Travis Holloway, the school’s principal, said he was “pleasantly surprised” to learn his school was on the AP honor roll with a silver designation. He said that about 25 of the school’s graduates each year pass at least one AP exam, and that six seniors this year have passed at least three exams required to be designated AP scholars. 

Among them is Rebecca Hernandez, 17, who passed six AP courses. She credited her parents, who she said moved to New York from El Salvador, for prioritizing academics. 

“My parents wanted something better for me,” Hernandez told Newsday.