Etowah County School District is one of 547 school districts in the U.S. and Canada being honored by the College Board with placement on the Fifth Annual AP District Honor Roll for increasing access to AP work while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP exams. 2014 is a milestone year for the AP District Honor Roll, and more districts are achieving this objective than ever before.
Reaching these goals indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are ready for the opportunity of AP. Since 2012, Etowah County School District has increased the number of students participating in AP while improving the number of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher.
Data from 2014 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. The first step to delivering the opportunity of AP to students is providing access by ensuring courses are available, that gate keeping stops, and that the doors are equitably opened so these students can participate.
The Etowah County School System is committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and motivated students of all backgrounds.
“The devoted teachers and administrators in this district are delivering an undeniable benefit to their students: opportunity,” said College Board’s senior vice president of AP and Instruction Trevor Packer. “When coupled with a student’s hard work, such opportunities can have myriad outcomes, whether building confidence, learning to craft effective arguments, earning credit for college, or persisting to graduate from college on time. We applaud your conviction that a more diverse population of students is ready for the sort of rigor that will prepare them for success in college.”
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 simultaneously expand access and improve student performance.
In 2014, more than 3,800 colleges and universities around the world received AP scores for college credit, advanced placement, and/or consideration in the admission process, with many colleges and universities in the United States offering credit in one or more subjects for qualifying AP scores.
Inclusion on the Fifth Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of AP data, from 2012 to 2014, looking across 34 AP exams, including world language and culture.
Other AP courses include history, English composition, math and computer sciences, sciences, and history and social sciences classes. Several AP arts classes are also available.