College Board Honors Rockvile High School For AP Advancement

VERNON, CT – Rockville High School is one of 250 school districts in the U.S. and Canada being honored by the College Board with placement on the 10th Annual AP District Honor Roll, Superintendent of Schools Joseph Macary said Wednesday afternoon.

To be included on the 10th-Annual Honor Roll, Rockville High School had to, since 2017, increase the number of students participating in AP programs, while also increasing or maintaining the percentage of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher, Macary said.

prepared students who are ready for AP, according to the criteria.

The critera have a demographic element as well. National data from 2019 show that among American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students with a high degree of readiness for AP, only about half are participating.

"The first step to getting more of these students to participate is to give them access. Courses must be made available, gatekeeping must stop, and doors must be opened equitably," according to the criteria.

"The Vernon public school system is committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and motivated students of all backgrounds," Macary said.

"With more students participating and succeeding in AP in this district, more students are getting a head start on college by earning college credit during high school," said Trevor Packer, senior vice president of AP and Instruction at the College Board. "We are pleased to honor the teachers and administrators who have worked to clear a path for more students of all backgrounds to advance through AP."

Many districts are experimenting with initiatives and strategies to see how they can expand access and improve student performance at the same time.

According to the College Board, Iin 2019, more than 4,000 colleges and universities around the world received AP scores for college credit, advanced placement, or both, and/or consideration in the admissions process. Inclusion in the 10th Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on a review of three years of AP data, from 2017 to 2019, looking across 38 AP Exams, including world language and culture, according to the board.

For inclusion on the 10th Annual AP District Honor Roll, districts must meet the following criteria:

• Increase participation/access to AP by at least 4 pecernt in large districts, at least 6 percent in medium districts, and at least 11 percent in small districts
• Increase or maintain the percentage of American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students taking exams and increase or maintain the percentage of American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students scoring 3+ on at least one AP Exam
• Improve or maintain performance levels when comparing the 2019 percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher to the 2017 percentage, unless the district has already attained a performance level at which more than 70 percent of its AP students earn a 3 or higher.

When the outcomes have been achieved among an AP student population in which 30 percent or more are underrepresented minority students (American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander) and/or 30 percent or more are low-income students (students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch), a symbol has been affixed to the district name to highlight this work, according to the College Board.

The complete 10th Annual AP District Honor Roll can be found here:

• https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/about-ap/awards/district-honor-roll