The Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners unanimously approved increased funding Tuesday night for Preliminary SAT, SAT and Advanced Placement testing.
A nearly three-year contract from July 2023 to June 2026 with the College Board, which administers the tests, originally was to cost more than $1.3 million. That’s now risen to over $2.5 million.
Last school year, the district ordered over 5,800 AP exams at $65 each, and officials estimate the district will order 6,750 exams this year and 7,500 in 2025-26 at $70 apiece, according to board documents. Meanwhile, the number of students taking AP exams in the district has nearly doubled since 2020, increasing from 1,683 students taking 2,456 exams in 2020 to 3,112 students taking 4,709 exams in 2023. According to district data, there are over 21,700 high school students in the district.
“We have heard from students themselves that [AP tests] have made them more competitive for more highly selective programs like the University of Maryland, College Park’s engineering program,” Sonja Santelises, CEO of the Baltimore City Public School System, said at the board meeting. “The two students from [Dunbar High School] who got into Harvard last year were very vocal that it was their AP coursework that allowed them to be competitive.”
In 2023, 29% of AP exams in Baltimore City Schools earned passing scores, which is a 3, 4 or 5, according to board documents, up from 26% in 2022. Students who fail with a score of 1 or 2 are still about 18% more likely to enroll in a four-year college, according to the College Board.
Last school year, 10th and 11th graders each took the PSAT while 11th and 12th graders took the SAT on a schoolday, according to board documents. Next school year, the district plans to administer the preliminary SAT to ninth graders.
In June 2022, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents voted to remove the SAT requirements for applicants. At the time, University of Maryland, College Park President Darryll Pines said the SAT has traditionally been biased against students of color. In 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic when in-person testing was not available, all the schools within the system shifted to a test-optional model.
During the meeting, Commissioner Kwame’ Jamal Kenyatta-Bey questioned the utility of the test.
“The entrance exams for many colleges and universities are now downplaying the importance of SATs. What is the college board doing to show that they are keeping up with these changes?” Kenyatta-Bey asked. “Does that mean students are narrowing their scope of colleges?”
Eric Jefferson, the district’s executive director of secondary success and innovation, told the board the PSAT and SAT are important steps for students to secure scholarships while the number of students taking AP courses has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.
“The value of the SAT is coming back,” Jefferrson said. “The University of Maryland system, they put a consent decree up until 2025, and the board of regents will be revoting in this current year to reinstate the SAT.”
Jefferson added that the PSAT is used to determine National Merit Scholars, which opens doors to scholarships and also raises the district’s profile in many national rating systems.
In the original $1.3 million contract, the district budgeted over $1 million for PSAT and SAT testing and $270,000 for AP tests, and the increased funding provides “flexibility in the contract,” as well as training for teachers, according to board documents. The district provides the exams for free for all students. Jefferson said the increased funding will mostly go to offering more AP exams.
Funding for the increased contract will come from the general fund as well as some leftover pandemic relief dollars, according to board documents.