ARPS Named to AP District Honor Roll for 2012

The College Board has selected Amherst Regional Public Schools for the 3rd Annual AP District Honor Roll, in recognition of the district's success in simultaneously increasing access to Advanced Placement course work while also increasing the achievement of students on the exam.

Achieving both of these goals is the ideal scenario for a district’s AP program because it indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are likely to benefit most from rigorous AP course work. More than 90 percent of colleges and universities across the U.S. offer college credit, advanced placement or both for a score of 3 or higher on an AP Exam.  At Amherst Regional High School, Advanced Placement offerings are available in Calculus (AB & BC), Chinese, French, Latin, Spanish, European History, Biology, Physics, Environmental Science, and English Literature and Composition.  Over the past seven years, Amherst Regional Public Schools has increased the number of students participating in AP while still enabling more than 90% of AP students to earn at least one score of 3 or higher.   See a record of ARHS AP Scores for the years 2006-2012.

A total of 539 school districts across 44 of 50 states in the U. S. and six Canadian provinces achieved honor roll status. The state of Massachusetts was represented by the largest number of AP Honor Roll districts, with 46, followed by Michigan, with 39. 

The AP District Honor Roll is part of the College Board's continued commitment to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and motivated students of all backgrounds. Data show that among African-American, Hispanic, and Native American students with a high degree of readiness for AP, only about half of students are participating, often because their school does not yet offer the AP course. The College Board has called for vigilance in fostering greater readiness for AP and caring for students within AP courses by providing support, mentorship and encouragement.

 “We applaud the extraordinary efforts of the devoted teachers and administrators in these 539 districts, who are fostering rigorous work worth doing. These educators have not only expanded student access to AP course work, but they have enabled more of their students to achieve on a college level—which is helping to create a strong college-going culture,” said College Board President, David Coleman.

Helping more students learn at a higher level and earn higher AP scores is an objective of all members of the AP community, from AP teachers to district and school administrators to college professors. Many districts are experimenting with a variety of initiatives and strategies to determine how to expand access and improve student performance simultaneously. 

“There has been a great victory among educators who have believed that a more diverse population could indeed succeed in AP courses. In 2012, AP scores were higher than they’d been since 2004, when one million fewer students were being given access. These outcomes are a powerful testament to educators’ belief that many more students were indeed ready and waiting for the sort of rigor that would prepare them for what they would encounter in college,” said Trevor Packer, the College Board’s senior vice president of the Advanced Placement Program. “While we recognize that there is still much work to be done to prepare students for college, I find myself inspired daily by what they are achieving.”

Inclusion on the 3rd Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of AP data, from 2010 to 2012. Districts must satisfy the following criteria:

1)      Increase participation/access to AP by at least 4 percent in large districts, at least 6 percent in medium districts and at least 11 percent in small districts;

2)      Ensure that the percentage of African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students taking AP Exams did not decrease by more than 5 percent for large and medium districts or by more than 10 percent for small districts;

3)      Improve performance levels when comparing the percentage of students in 2012 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2010, unless the district has already attained a performance level in which more than 70 percent of the AP students are scoring a 3 or higher.

When these outcomes have been achieved among an AP student population made up of 30 percent or more underrepresented minority students (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native) and/or 30 percent or more low-income students (students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch), the district is placed on the AP District Honor Roll.

The complete 3rd Annual AP District Honor Roll can be found here.