The Advanced Placement (AP) program represents a critical element in Houston Independent School District's (HISD's) efforts to inject rigor into the high school classrooms. Since 2009, the AP course offerings in HISD have been vastly expanded, with more campuses offering a wider selection of AP courses that exposes a larger percentage of the high school population to academic rigor. Significantly more HISD students are taking and completing AP courses, taking and passing AP Exams, and earning AP Awards now than before 2009. Among the highlights of AP in 2017 are: (1) The number of high school students taking at least one AP Exam increased by 4 percent to 15,018 in 2017 from 14,416 in 2016; (2) The number of AP Exams taken by high school students increased by 5 percent to 28,236 in 2017 from 26,868 in 2016; (3) The number of AP Exams scored 3 or higher increased by 9 percent to 9,513 in 2017 from 8,765 in 2016; moreover, the proportion of exams scored 3 or higher increased from 33 percent in 2016 to 34 percent in 2017; (4) History and Social Sciences represented the largest category among the seven AP categories with 46 percent of all AP Exams taken by high school students, followed by 19 percent in English and (5) Enrollment in AP courses decreased to 34 percent in 2016-2017 compared to 37 percent in the previous year for students enrolled in grades 10-12.