Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein said Thursday that the number of New York City public school students who took an Advanced Placement (AP) exam rose 5.6 percent last year, and the number of students who earned a passing score of 3 or higher rose 4.3 percent.

The Department of Education (DOE) noted in a statement that, since the State Legislature approved mayoral control of the school system in 2002, the number of AP test takers has risen 39.2 percent, and the number of students passing an AP exam has risen 31.6 percent.

“One of the key goals of our education reforms is to raise the level of achievement for all students, and the AP scores released by the College Board earlier this week show that we are succeeding at that,� said Mayor Bloomberg.

The greatest increases in participation came among Black and Hispanic students. Among Hispanic students, 5,616 took an AP exam, compared to 3,532 in 2002, while among black students, 3,825 took an AP exam, compared to 2,422 in 2002. More Black and Hispanic students also earned a score of 3 or higher on an AP exam last year.

Specialized School Results In

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein also announced on Thursday that 6,106 students received an offer to attend one of the City’s nine specialized high schools beginning in September 2009.

Offers to eight of the schools are based on the results of a competitive admissions exam taken by approximately 29,000 students this year. Last year, 5,991 students received offers, and approximately 28,000 students took the exam.

The specialized high schools that admit students based on the results of the admissions exam are Bronx High School of Science; the Brooklyn Latin School; Brooklyn Technical High School; the High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College; the High School of American Studies at Lehman College; Queens High School for the Sciences at York College; Staten Island Technical High School; and Stuyvesant High School.

Admission to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is based on an audition and a review of academic records.

“Students who earned admission to one of our specialized high schools today should be proud of their remarkable accomplishment,� Chancellor Klein said. “I congratulate every student who received an offer and all the students who took on the challenge of applying.�

This year, 9,830 students from Brooklyn took the test, compared to 9,400 last year.

Overall, 5,404 students got offers to one of the 8 testing schools (this doesn’t include LaGuardia). According to a spokesperson from the Department of Education, 1,574 students from Brooklyn received offers to the following schools:

- 32: Bronx Science
- 159: Brooklyn Latin
- 1,031: Brooklyn Tech
- 11: The HS for Math, Science, and Engineering
- 5: The HS of American Studies
- 6: Queens HS for the Sciences
- 62: Staten Island Tech
- 268: Stuyvesant

A total of 1,921 students citywide received an offer Brooklyn Tech: 64 from the Bronx, 1,031 from Brooklyn, 272 from Manhattan, 520 from Queens and 34 from Staten Island.

Students began receiving notification of their offers Thursday. The deadline to accept an offer is February 26. Students who do not accept their offer by February 26 will forfeit their place and be entered into the main round of the high school admissions process.

— Mary Frost

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