College Board

Significantly more African-American seniors in Maryland are taking and passing rigorous Advanced Placement tests, a key measure of high academic achievement, according to results released yesterday by the College Board. The number of African-American students among last year's senior class taking the exams rose by nearly 30 percent from the year before to 7,812. Nearly half of those students - 3,498 - received a passing score on at least one of those exams. The increasing participation by minorities around the state reflects the priority that state and local school systems have placed on getting more students to take tougher courses in high school that will prepare them for college.

Roger M. "Mike" Kelly, a former railroad executive and a longtime Oxford resident, suffered a heart attack Monday and was pronounced dead at a hospital in Melbourne, Fla. He was 96. Mr. Kelly, who was born and raised in Towson, was a 1927 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School and attended the University of Maryland, College Park. He earned a bachelor's degree in business from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1933. Mr. Kelly's extensive career, spanning more than 50 years, began in Washington during the 1930s when he worked for the Department of Commerce.

In 2007, every Howard County high school outperformed the national average of students scoring high enough to receive college credit on the Advanced Placement exams, according to results released last week. Nearly every county high school exceeded the state average of 22.4 percent. Only Howard (18.5 percent), Long Reach (18.9 percent) and Hammond (20.9 percent) did not exceed the state average. Howard County shared its data with the public in November during a school board meeting. The College Board, which administers the AP exam, released national statistics Wednesday.

Anne Arundel County students scored higher on the SAT than their peers nationwide, even as their average scores dropped 32 points from last year, according to data released this week by the College Board. County students who took the SAT in the 2006-2007 school year scored an average of 1,519 points, 21 points above the state average, and 8 above the national average. SAT SCORES How students performed, broken down by high school. pg 4g

The average math SAT score of Maryland high school seniors dropped significantly last academic year for the second year in a row - and is now 13 points below students nationally, the College Board said yesterday. State education officials said scores fell in part because more students are taking the SAT, particularly minorities, and because the math portion is harder than before. But other educators said the decline in math scores in one of the nation's most affluent and well-educated states is troubling.

The College Board has placed a top Anne Arundel County high school on probation after a cheating scandal last spring, warning that the school will no longer be allowed to offer Advanced Placement exams if the problem reoccurs, school officials said yesterday. In its decision this week, the College Board also banned the instructor involved in the May 11 incident at Severna Park High School from administering any future AP exams and required the school's designated AP coordinator to attend a training workshop.

Light lunch, gifts at HCC open house Howard Community College will hold a Hospitality and Culinary Management Open House for students interested in careers in these fields at 11 a.m. Aug. 11, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. The free event includes a hands-on culinary demonstration, a light lunch and a gift for those who attend. The open house will be in The Rouse Company Foundation Student Services Hall, Room 400. Information or to register: 410-772-4469. Teachers workshop at Patuxent refuge The environmental education office of the Patuxent Research Refuge will offer a workshop series for teachers at the National Wildlife Visitor Center in Laurel.

Peter Thompson calls it his "baptism by fire" at Severna Park High School: In ninth grade, a classmate snatched a test paper from his desk and passed it around the classroom. Teachers and administrators didn't punish anyone after he and his family complained, Thompson said. The junior, ranked first in the school of 1,700 students, said he has seen plenty of other incidents of cheating since then, but nothing like one earlier this month: At least one student allegedly stole away to a bathroom with a sealed booklet of essay questions for the Advanced Placement American history exam and, with two friends, scoured a review manual for answers.

It's a decision filled with daydreams and nightmares. As students ponder what to say in response to the college acceptance letter they've received, their imagination might flit from parties and a glorious career to a noose of suffocating college loan debt. "Too many students don't think about it until they are about to graduate from college," says Mark Oleson, director of the Office for Financial Success at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "But by that time they might have dug themselves into a hole they can't afford."

Linn Griffiths is nervous - the type of nervous usually experienced by someone undergoing an IRS audit. She is among the many high school teachers across the country whose curricula are being scrutinized in the first national audit of Advanced Placement classes. "Although I'm confident that my syllabus meets all the requirements of the AP program, you never know," said Griffiths, who teaches AP environmental science at C. Milton Wright High School. "When I heard about the AP audit, I was a little worried and anxious."