Alabama students improved the most on Advanced Placements tests in the nation for this past year.

The College Board, which oversees all AP testing, recently announced an increase of 17.7 percent of students passing the tests and an increase in minority students in the classes and results on the tests.

“It’s a mammoth amount of information,” said Thomas Powell, AP U.S. history teacher at Selma High School. “For a student to tell you ‘I took an AP class, I took the test and passed the test,’ they have really worked hard and very diligently because it’s a lot of information and it’s tough.”

For students to pass the AP test, each needs to read materials and study for about 1.5 hours nightly, Powell said.

“The rigor that comes with it makes it tough day after day, but they really do work and try hard,” Powell said.

Systems like Dallas County Schools do no have AP teachers this year and rely on ACCESS Distance learning classes to offer advanced classes to students.

“There are a lot of classes that are available through ACESS,” said Dallas County Schools Superintendent Fannie Major-McKenzie.

Distance learning classrooms allow students to see and interact with a teacher in a different school or city through cameras and screens linked to the Internet.

State Superintendent Joe Morton attributes the statewide increase in AP scores to these ACCESS classes.

“With ACCESS, students now have educational opportunities that would have been impossible just a few short years ago,” Morton said.

Alabama is the first state to have both video conferencing and web-based distance learning capabilities in all its high schools.

“These results speak for themselves,” Governor Bob Riley said during a press conference this week. “The innovations we have made in Alabama schools are resulting in more participation and higher achievement in AP courses. That means more Alabama students have the opportunities they deserve, no matter where they live.”

Since 2009, the number of students in state public schools taking the AP exams has increased 18.1 percent, compared to 9.5 percent nationally. Also, the number of African-American students participating in the AP program increased 294 percent since 2006. Overall, state public schools have an increase of 125.3 percent in total number of students taking the tests.

Superintendents from Selma City Schools and Dallas County Schools did not supply student AP enrollment or AP exam scores in time for publication.