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 2018 are: (1) The number of high school students taking at least one AP Exam decreased by 2 percent to 14,732 in 2018 from 15,018 in 2017; (2) The number of AP Exams taken by high school students decreased by 2 percent to 27,647 in 2018 from 28,236 in 2017; (3) The number of AP Exams scored 3 or higher increased by 4 percent to 9,932 in 2018 from 9,513 in 2017; moreover, the proportion of exams scored 3 or higher increased from 34 percent in 2017 to 36 percent in 2018; (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 18 percent in English; and (5) Enrollment in AP courses increased to 36 percent in 2017-2018 compared to 34 percent in the previous year for students enrolled in grades 10-12.