Toms River Schools Named To AP National Honor Roll

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional 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 Toms River schools are one of 39 schools in New Jersey and 373 in the United States and Canada to receive the honor.

"I’m immensely proud of what our district leadership team has accomplished when it comes to increasing our AP offerings and refining the process to create greater accessibility for all students," Superintendent David Healy said. "I’m especially proud of our teachers and students, because while we’ve greatly increased the number of AP courses and exams, performance within advanced placement has remained strong, a testament to their hard work, talent, and dedication. It’s been a recurring theme here, that when we challenge our students and raise the bar, they consistently meet and exceed our expectations."

"We anticipate our AP participation and performance will only improve moving forward. This noteworthy accomplishment did not happen overnight, but started years ago at the intermediate level," Healy said. "While we’re thrilled to be witnessing the benefits of that initiative today, we’re excited to see how increased rigor from K through 12 will manifest itself in the years to come."

National data from 2018 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, the College Board said. Courses must be made available, gatekeeping must stop, and doors must be equitably opened. Toms River Regional Schools is committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and motivated students of all backgrounds.

"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.

"Everything we do here at Toms River Regional Schools is geared toward student achievement and empowering our students to succeed now and well into the future," Board President Russell Corby said. "Clearly, our students are responding positively to the increased rigor and challenges of AP coursework, and our educators are placing our students in a position to succeed. This is a great achievement and wonderful news for our community, our parents and our students."

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.

The Toms River schools have received the honor previously, according to the College Board.

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