Manchester Schools Named To AP National Honor Roll

MANCHESTER, NJ — The Manchester Township Schools have been honored for their advanced placement programs by the College Board, which named the district to its 9th annual AP District Honor Roll, the College Board announced Tuesday.

The honor roll highlights schools that have since 2016 increased the number of students participating in AP courses while also maintaining the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or better on AP Exams, the College Board said.

Reaching these goals shows that this district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are ready for AP, the College Board said.

The Manchester schools are one of 39 schools in New Jersey and 373 in the United States and Canada to receive the honor.

Dennis Adams, principal at Manchester Township High School, said the district worked hard to achieve the growth, through a collaboration among students, teachers and staff "in building a culture of academic excellence through the AP program."

The AP program at Manchester, coordinated by Stacie Ferrara, who now is the principal at Brick Memorial High School, not only increased the number of AP courses that were offered to students, it looked for ways to identify students with the ability to pursue the courses, to encourage more students to take the courses.

"The PSAT score of 10th and 11th graders provided by College Board through the AP Potential report was shared with students and parents to invite students to consider AP courses in their class selection," he said.

One AP course, AP World History, was available to 9th graders for the first time. The AP Environmental Science students developed an ongoing authentic research project with BASF Corp. in Toms River to investigate the deer population, which enhanced the AP experience.

"AP enrollment in courses and the number of AP test takers continues to increase each year," he said.

"Success in Advanced Placement is a combination of students’ own motivation and the opportunities educators provide for them," said Trevor Packer, senior vice president of AP and Instruction at the College Board. "I’m inspired by the teachers and administrators in this district who have worked to clear a path for more students of all backgrounds to earn college credit during high school."

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 initiatives and strategies to see how they can expand access and improve student performance at the same time.

In 2018, 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 9th Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on a review of three years of AP data, from 2016 to 2018, looking across 38 AP Exams, including world language and culture.

The following criteria were used.

Districts must:

• 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;
• Increased or maintained the percentage of American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students taking exams and increased or maintained 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; and
• Improve or maintain performance levels when comparing the 2018 percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher to the 2016 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.

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