MILLBROOK, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has led the nation for the last five years in the percentage growth of high school students who qualify on Advanced Placement exams and for the increase in minority students in AP courses, state education officials said Monday.

Gov. Robert Bentley, state school Superintendent Tommy Bice and supporters of the A Plus College Ready program announced that the percentage of students who make qualifying scores for all Alabama students have gone up 102 percent on math, science and English courses in the last five years. Enrollment of minority students in AP courses has increased 318 percent in the same period.

Bice said much of the improvement is driven by the 64 high schools that participate in A Plus College Ready. The public-private partnership provides teachers with specialized training and stipends. Students get extra test preparation sessions and help with the cost of the end-of-course exams. A dozen more schools joined the program this semester, which puts nearly one-fourth of Alabama's high schools in the program.

Since 2007, $26 million in public and private funds have been committed to the program. Bice called it "the greatest return on investment of any program we ever attempted to do."

The announcement came in a festive ceremony with cheerleaders and marching band at Millbrook's Stanhope Elmore High School, one of the schools participating in the program since 2010.

Brianna Saunders, a Stanhope Elmore student planning to study aeronautical engineering at Middle Tennessee State University, said Advanced Placement courses have "tons of work," but they improve students' work habits and make them better prepared for college. "There is no way I can procrastinate with my work anymore," she said.

The exams at the end of each course are scored 1 to 5. Making 3 or higher qualifies students for college course credit.

Overall, Alabama students have a lower passing rate than the national average, but high schools that joined the A Plus College Ready program in 2008 and 2009 exceed the national average. Those that joined in 2010 and 2011 exceed the statewide average and are closing in on the national average.

Bentley said the courses not only help students prepare for college, they help parents save money if their children get college credit. Students in the A Plus College Ready program have made qualifying scores on 9,068 exams in math, science and English, which equates to more than $16 million worth of college course credit at an in-state university.

"I wish I would have had this when I was in high school," Bentley said.

High schools added to the program this semester are Arab, Daphne, Fairhope, Cullman, Elmore County, Headland, Francis Marion, Robert C. Hatch, Montevallo, Vincent, Moody and Cordova.

High schools already in the program are: Benjamin Russell, Carver of Birmingham, Huffman, Jackson-Olin, Ramsay, Wenonah, Greenville, Cleburne County, Hillcrest of Conecuh County, Dothan, Northview, Stanhope Elmore, Wetumpka, Hokes Bluff, Southside of Etowah County, Gadsden, Hartselle, Columbia, Huntsville, Lee of Huntsville, New Century, Virgil Grissom, Jacksonville, Centerpoint, Clay-Chalkville, Corner, Gardendale, Hueytown, Jefferson County I.B., McAdory, Minor, Mortimer Jordan, Oak Grove, Pinson Valley, Pleasant Grove, Shades Valley, Smiths Station, Buckhorn, Hazel Green, Madison County, New Hope, Sparkman, Asbury, Douglas, Kate Duncan Smith, DAR, Monroe County, Booker T. Washington of Montgomery, Brewbaker Technology Magnet, Jefferson Davis, Loveless Academic Magnet, Lee of Montgomery, Muscle Shoals, Oxford, Pell City, Saraland, Calera, Shelby County, Tallassee, Hewitt Trussville, Central of Tuscaloosa, Northridge, Paul W. Bryant, Hillcrest of Tuscaloosa County, and Tuscaloosa County.