BY MATTHEW E. MILLIKEN

mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684

DURHAM -- Durham school board members attending a committee meeting Monday evening applauded an uptick in pass rates on Advanced Placement tests.

Results for 2008-09 showed passing marks on 57.3 percent of AP tests taken by Durham students. That's up 2 percent from 2007-08 even though more AP tests were taken in the later year.

The passing average lags the state and national average. Both are 58.9 percent.

From 2000 through 2007, Durham scores dipped below 59 percent only in 2001. At least 60 percent of students passed from 2002 through 2007.

Locally, white students passed the tests at a 65.6 percent rate last year. They also took more than two and half times as many tests as all other Durham students combined.

The lowest rate belonged to blacks, who passed 24.7 percent of tests. Beth Cross, the district's director of advanced academics, suggested that a significant number of the 194 students who did not state race or ethnicity may be black. The "non-stated" category had the highest pass rate, 72.7 percent.

Studies show that even students who fail the AP test tend to do well in institutions of higher learning, Cross told the board.

"Taking the exam is giving them a taste of what college life is like, and they are showing that they are more successful," she said.

Board members noted with displeasure that one school, Hillside New Tech, had had all 21 of its students flunk a world history test.

And board member Fredrick Davis criticized administrators for having some schools offer AP courses to a handful of students while other schools do not. He did not specify the schools in question.

Chris Bennett, the district's assistant superintendent for secondary education, said the state's online Virtual Public School has made it easier to enroll students in AP courses that attract few students.

The district administers the PSAT to all 10th-graders and uses the results to find students who can handle AP courses.

A district goals for the AP program this year is to increase black students' participation in it. Administrators want to do the same for students of all types at Hillside and Southern; they have far lower AP test-taking rates than the district's other comprehensive high schools.

Board member Kirsten Kainz praised district work in reducing the disparity in the number of AP courses that Hillside and Southern offer in comparison to other Durham high schools.

"I think your administration has done a good job to build that up," she said.