Los Alamitos Unified Makes AP Honor Roll Again

The Los Alamitos Unified School District made the honor roll for the second year in a row.

The district was one of 367 across the nation recognized on the Second Annual AP District Honor Roll, published by the College Board, which makes the SATs and the Advanced Placement, or AP, program.

AP classes provide high school students with college level coursework and, if a student scores high marks on an AP test, college credit.

The College Board ranked school districts across America on a number of criteria, such as whether the district increased enrollment in AP courses and increased or maintained performance on AP tests.

Eighteen California school districts made the grade. (Scroll to the end of this story for the full list.)

Boosting AP enrollment and test scores was “really something” for the district, according to Superintendent Sherry Kropp. "We are extremely proud."

In the 2010-11 school year, 646 LAUSD students enrolled in AP courses. Students took 1,281 AP tests, and the overall AP test passage rate was 83.4 percent, according to Kropp.

That surpassed 2009-10, when 617 students enrolled, 1,249 tests were taken, and students passed at a 79.9 percent rate.

The numbers are even higher compared with 2002, when the district had 344 students enrolled in AP classes, 633 tests taken, and a test passage rate of about 77 percent.

Kropp said the school board’s goal is for all high school students to take at least one AP class before graduation.

“We want students to know they can do it,” Kropp said. “So, if their goal includes going to college, they can do it.”

Laguna Beach Unified was the only other Orange County district to make the honor roll.

Here’s the complete list of the 18 California school districts that made the honor roll. (A school with an * means that this is the second time the school made it on the list.)

• Carmel Unified
• Coachella Valley*
• Diocese of San Jose*
• Dublin Unified
• El Segundo Unified
• Fremont Unified
• Fremont Union High
• Laguna Beach Unified
• Los Alamitos Unified*
• New Haven Unified
• Palo Alto Unified*
• Pleasanton Unified*
• Plumas Unified
• Roseville Joint Union High*
• San Ramon Valley*
• Stockton Unified
• Val Verde Unified – National Leader
• Woodlake Union

For more information on the College Board's Second Annual National AP Honor Roll, click here.