Lincoln Public Schools students earned applause this fall for their stellar work on Advanced Placement tests.
LPS high schoolers excelled on Advanced Placement (AP) exams they took during the 2025-26 academic year. They recorded marks above the comparable state and global mean scores on more than a dozen tests. Their achievements covered a range of AP classes such as Psychology, Biology, English Language and Composition, United States History and Computer Science Principles.
LPS graduate Beau Cassell said it was a valuable experience taking AP exams in high school. Cassell attended Southeast High School and collected important college credits with his work on the assessments.
“The fast-paced nature of college courses has been much easier to adapt to, and I have been able to focus on other aspects of my transition to college,” Cassell said. “The exams also gave me experience in taking high-stakes tests and studying more effectively over longer periods of time. I definitely feel that I came in more prepared and college is more enjoyable because of my AP classes experience.”
LPS school counselors Kelley Winter and Holly Gonsor said it is encouraging to hear those types of stories. Both said AP courses are meaningful for everyone who takes them. Winter is a team leader in Southeast’s school counseling office, and Gonsor guides students at North Star High School.
“I think AP classes and exams benefit students in a lot of ways as they prepare for college,” Winter said. “AP classes give students a chance to experience a more rigorous level of coursework while they are still in high school, and they learn a lot about managing their time, keeping up with challenging material and advocating for themselves when they need help. Those are skills that are going to serve them well in college.”
“AP tests can benefit students by giving them a head start on college general education courses at a reduced price,” Gonsor said. “Even if students do not receive the score they need to count toward college credits, they are receiving exposure to what college exams are like.”
LPS students can take AP classes in subjects spread across six academic disciplines. They can also complete AP Research and AP Seminar courses in a capstone program.
AP courses and tests follow a nationally certified curriculum developed by the College Bound organization. Students earn scores from one to five on the exams, which are administered during the first two weeks of May each year. They can obtain college credit at many institutions with scores of three, four or five.
LPS Assessment and Evaluation Department employees began processing data from this past spring’s tests after receiving results in July. They determined the mathematical average (the mean) of scores in all 28 subjects that LPS students took AP tests in.
The team broke down the data even more to focus on 15 tests that 40 or more LPS high schoolers completed. LPS students recorded mean scores above 3.0 on all 15 of those exams and above 3.50 on ten of those tests.
The team looked up state and international figures for each assessment after calculating the local information. They discovered that LPS students finished above state and international marks on 13 of the 15 tests. The top four scores came in United States Government and Politics (4.12), Microeconomics (3.95), Chemistry (3.80) and English Literature and Composition (3.76).
Winter and LPS Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Sarah Salem both said teachers deserve much of the credit for those accomplishments.
“These results reflect the work our teachers are doing every day to prepare students for what comes next,” Salem said. “For our students who see college as their next step, these results show that they are being well prepared for that challenge. That’s something our entire LPS team can be proud of.”
“They work really hard to prepare our students,” Winter said. “They are constantly giving students opportunities to practice, working through difficult material with them and finding ways to help students really understand what they are learning. It takes a lot of time and intentional teaching to prepare students for an AP exam, and I think these results really show the work our teachers and students are putting in.”
Those bright outcomes coincide with a rising interest in AP classes. Nine hundred eighty LPS students took AP exams in the 2016-17 school year and 1,572 in 2020-21. That number soared to 2,404 this past spring.
Many people also completed multiple AP classes this past year. They finished 3,335 tests across the 28 subjects, which was more than double the 1,628 exams taken in 2016-17.
A total of 1,023 pupils completed the AP Human Geography test. World History: Modern (432), United States History (384), English Language and Composition (331), Psychology (211), U.S. Government and Politics (133) and Computer Science Principles (116) all had triple-digit totals.
Salem praised all LPS staff members for supporting students at every stage of the educational process. She said this year’s noteworthy AP results are the byproduct of many people’s efforts.
“That doesn’t happen by accident,” Salem said. “LPS students are shining, and it takes an entire system working together to make that possible.”
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