The Sunshine State now leads the country in the percentage of high school seniors who take Advanced Placement exams, and ranks seventh in the percentage that pass, according to a national report issued this morning. In 2006, 36.4 percent of Florida seniors took at least one of the exams – which is considered a good measure of college-level learning – and 19.6 percent passed. Nationally, 24.2 percent took the test and 14.8 percent passed. Tuesday's report gave Florida extra credit for dramatically expanding the number of minority students who take and pass AP tests, especially Hispanic students. Click  here to see the full report.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Update: The Florida Education Department had this to say about the AP results.