Alabama

Which Alabama high schools offer the most AP classes? See the top 14

Published

5 months ago

July 23, 2024

Which Alabama high schools offer the most AP classes? See the top 14

Which Alabama schools offer the most AP courses? See the top 14

In some Alabama high schools, students have the chance to take college-level German, music theory or even advanced physics courses before stepping foot on a university campus.

But options vary widely by school. Out of the 285 Alabama public and private schools that offered Advanced Placement courses, only a small number offer 25 or more unique courses for students to choose from, according to an AL.com analysis of recent College Board data.

The Advanced Placement program offers a total of 39 courses across a variety of disciplines.

AP courses are created by college faculty. To earn college credit, students must earn a score of 3, 4 or 5, considered a passing, or qualifying, score. A passing score on an AP test can unlock up to three credit hours of college coursework.

Here are the Alabama schools that registered to offer more than 25 unique AP courses in the 2023-24 school year:

James Clemens High School, Madison City: 30 courses
Bob Jones High School, Madison City: 29 courses
Thompson High School, Alabaster: 29 courses
Mountain Brook High School, Mountain Brook: 28 courses
Montgomery Academy, a private school in Montgomery: 28 courses
Hoover High School, Hoover: 27 courses
Virgil Grissom High School, Huntsville: 27 courses
Spain Park High School, Hoover: 26 courses
Florence High School, Florence: 26 courses
Hewitt-Trussville High School, Trussville: 26 courses
Vestavia Hills High School, Vestavia Hills: 26 courses
Homewood High School, Homewood: 25 courses
Huntsville High School, Huntsville: 25 courses
Loveless Academic Magnet High School, Montgomery: 25 courses

And if you’re counting pre-AP courses, three other high schools – Baker High in Mobile and Oak Mountain and Chelsea High in Shelby County – join that list.

Public schools with the largest AP offerings were mostly in big city school systems and suburban districts. Just one private school offered more than 25 courses.

To offer an AP course, schools must go through an audit process, which enables the College Board to give teachers and administrators clear guidelines. The schools listed below are cleared by the College Board to administer the course, but might not offer that course every year.

Some courses require the school to offer specific prerequisites, while others may come with costly textbooks or other materials. Schools must also assign someone local to handle auditing duties, as well as an AP coordinator.

It costs students about $100 per test to take an AP exam. Some schools cover those costs for students, and others may be eligible for reimbursement from the state.

In Madison City, Superintendent Ed Nichols credits the program for the district’s high college-going rates, but he said it takes buy-in from everyone involved.

Nichols said the district partners with local universities to give additional training to AP teachers, and frequently communicates the value of the program to parents. The district also offers a handful of pre-AP courses to help prepare younger students for higher-level coursework.

“It takes a dedicated student that is willing to accept the rigor,” he said. “It also takes support at home, and I’m proud that our board today and years before us was committed to this.”

Which schools offer AP?

Schools that offered lots of AP courses also tended to have lower rates of students living in poverty. Each of the 10 schools with the largest number of offerings are majority-white schools.

At least 150 of Alabama’s 381 public high schools didn’t offer any AP courses last year. More than 40 had only one course registered. Most of those schools were small, rural schools that enrolled fewer than 500 students.

Private schools had a big range of offerings, with some authorized for just one course and others offering more than 20.

Montgomery Academy led the state’s private schools with 28 course offerings. It was followed by UMS Wright Preparatory School in Mobile, which was registered for 21 courses.

AP English Language and Composition was the most popular offering, with 204 schools registered for the course, followed by AP Computer Science Principles, with 179 schools registered.

Less than 50 schools offer high-level calculus or physics courses.

Fewer schools, 21, offered pre-AP courses for ninth graders. And just 16 now offer both of the AP Seminar and Research courses required for the program’s capstone track, which was created in 2014.

Among elective courses, AP 2-D Art and Design was the most popular, with 63 schools registered. A small, but growing number of schools are now registered for AP African American Studies and languages such as German or Latin.

Look up your school’s offerings below. If you can’t see the table, view it here.

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Alabama

Portion of Alabama 59 in Baldwin County closed following two-vehicle crash

Published

7 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Press Room

Portion of Alabama 59 in Baldwin County closed following two-vehicle crash

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) – A two-vehicle crash on Alabama 59 near Baldwin County 34 has closed down the road, according to law enforcement.

Authorities said the crash occurred at 8:23 pm.

Law enforcement is on scene investigating and there is no timetable on when it will be reopened.

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Alabama

Alabama’s recent focus on defense pays off in blowout win over Kent State

Published

15 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Alabama’s recent focus on defense pays off in blowout win over Kent State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Nate Oats started his postgame press conference explaining why Alabama would have a much better winter break after its 81-54 win over Kent State. According to Oats, a happy holiday hinged on the Tide’s defensive performance against the Golden Flashes.

“Much better defensive effort so it’ll be a lot better Christmas break for us,” Oats said with a smile at the podium. “We did make a big point of emphasis on defense, especially after that debacle up in North Dakota with [Fighting Hawks guard Treysen Eaglestaff].”

It was far from a perfect offensive display for the Tide against Kent State. Alabama’s lingering turnover issues reared its ugly head for a second straight and the Tide continued shooting poorly from 3-point range.

However, after defensive letdowns nearly sprang an upset in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Alabama got back to the basics over the next few days at practice. The team worked on defensive fundamentals rather than solely focusing on film study.

That extra emphasis paid off as Alabama equaled its lowest points allowed in a game this season with 54. Tide forward Grant Nelson swatted a shot attempt by Kent State’s leading scorer VonCameron Davis in the opening few minutes, which helped set the tone the rest of the way.

“I think that [block] and just really everyone loading in the gaps, helping each other out,” Nelson said of Alabama’s defensive performance. “I thought that was huge. I think we kept them to six points in the first three media timeouts, that was huge for us. We emphasized that like I said and just a lot of credit to our guys for carrying it over on the court.”

While Alabama didn’t shoot the ball well, it made sure Kent State’s shooting was even more ineffective. Alabama communicated well on switches and contested shots from beyond the arc. It honed in on Davis, who averages 14.9 points per game but was limited to under 10 points for just the second time this season. Davis scored nine on an inefficient 4 of 15 from the field and had a minus-31 box plus-minus rating.

Coming into the game, Oats also felt like Kent State guard Jalen Sullinger (9.7 points per game) could be a dangerous weapon against Alabama’s defense with the potential to do the same thing Eaglestaff did for North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks guard scored a career-high 40 points, single-handedly pulling them back into the game late.

After missing the mark severely on guarding Eaglestaff, the Tide understood the assignment when it came to Sullinger and locked down the Kent State senior.

“He ended up shooting 1 of 14 and didn’t score in the second half,” Oats said. “So I think we did a little bit of a better job being locked in to a perimeter guy. We held them to a pretty good field goal percentage, they only shot 28%. Traditionally, this has been one of the hardest playing teams — I was in the MAC for six years and they get all of the O Boards. We gave up too many second-chance points but I thought for the most part our first-shot defense was good.”

Alabama continued to play effective post-defense in spite of the offensive rebounds. The Tide finished with six blocks as a team. Center Clifford Omoruyi won the Hard Hat Award for the most blue collar points and grabbed 12 rebounds while Nelson had 14. Off the bench, Derrion Reid had a pair of steals while Mouhamed Dioubate chipped in with two blocks.

Following the win, Alabama jumped from No. 57 to No. 42 in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com. As the Tide looks to build on its defensive momentum, better play on offense will have to follow. Alabama’s defense is much improved from last season when it was at its best, but it won’t be able to win games on defense alone when league play tips off on Jan. 4.

“We struggled a little offensively, and we’re gonna have to figure some stuff out here before SEC play,” Oats said. “The turnovers have been really just way too many — 13 in the first half. We did the same thing two games in a row. We only had one the second half against North Dakota. We ended up with six in the second half here. So we’ve got to do a better job at turnovers. I don’t have an answer for the free throw problems, but the only way to fix that is get in the gym and work. The good thing for us is we don’t have any school for a few weeks here, so after they get back from Christmas break, we’ll be in the gym and putting some time in.”

Alabama will conclude non-conference play against Summit League side South Dakota State. The Tide and Jackrabbits will tip off at 2 p.m. CT Dec. 29 inside Coleman Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

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Alabama

How cold did Alabama get last night? These cities had the lowest temperatures

Published

23 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

How cold did Alabama get last night? These cities had the lowest temperatures

Very cold temperatures greeted Alabamians on Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service said temperatures overnight bottomed out in the low 20s in parts of the state and even were at the freezing mark in south Alabama.

Here were the lowest temperatures between midnight and 6 a.m. Sunday from around Alabama from the National Weather Service:

* Alexander City: 30 degrees

* Anniston: 23 degrees

* Auburn: 28 degrees

* Birmingham: 24 degrees

* Decatur: 25 degrees

* Demopolis: 25 degrees

* Dothan: 30 degrees

* Evergreen: 28 degrees

* Eufaula: 28 degrees

* Gadsden: 21 degrees

* Haleyville: 22 degrees

* Huntsville: 26 degrees

* Mobile: 31 degrees

* Montgomery: 25 degrees

* Muscle Shoals: 24 degrees

* Ozark: 29 degrees

* Prattville: 25 degrees

* Sylacauga: 24 degrees

* Talladega: 22 degrees

* Troy: 26 degrees

* Tuscaloosa: 25 degrees

Temperatures today will be a few degrees higher than on Saturday. Highs will range from the low to mid-40s in south Alabama to the 50s in central Alabama, to the mid-50s in south Alabama (today’s forecast is at the top of this post).

Tonight will be chilly again, but not as cold as last night. Here are the forecast low temperatures from Sunday night into Monday morning:

Tonight’s low temperatures won’t be quite as cold as last night.NWS

Gradual warming is expected to continue this week, with the next chances for rain arriving on Wednesday, Christmas Day. The weather service isn’t expecting a lot of rain, and no severe weather is anticipated.

High temperatures on Christmas Day will be warmer, with 60s expected across a wide area and possibly some 70s near the coast. Here are the expected Christmas Day temperatures:

Wednesday highs — It will be warmer across much of Alabama on Christmas Day. Above is the forecast for Wednesday.NWS

The warming trend looks to hold past Christmas. Here is the six- to 10-day temperature outlook, and it shows a high probability of above-average temperatures for Alabama through the end of December: