For immediate release
Feb. 24, 2017
College Board Names Five NC School Districts to 2016 AP Honor Roll
Districts Recognized for Improved Participation and Performance on AP Exams
Five North Carolina school districts have
earned recognition by the College Board for boosting both participation and
performance on Advanced Placement exams during the last three years.
The five districts are among 433 nationwide
named by the College Board to its 7th Annual AP District Honor Roll
for simultaneously increasing access to Advanced Placement courses for a
greater diversity of students while also increasing or at least maintaining the
passing rate (score of 3 or higher) on AP exams, including among minorities
underrepresented in higher education. Because improvement
in AP results typically takes sustained efforts, the District Honor Roll is
based on three years of AP data.
Honor roll districts defy the expectation that
expanding access automatically results in a decline in the percentage of exams
earning scores of 3 or better. North Carolina’s AP honor roll districts for
2016 are:
·
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Schools
·
Clinton City Schools
·
Columbus County Schools
·
Duplin County Schools
·
Wilson County Schools
Overall, the state’s participation and
performance continue to increase on Advanced Placement exams, which can help
students earn transferrable college credit and save on college costs. In
addition, research has found that students who take AP courses are more likely
to persist in college and graduate on time.
State education leaders and lawmakers in
recent years have made a priority of broadening access to college-level courses
for qualified students. During the last two years, lawmakers provided funding
to pay the cost of AP exams for all students and appropriated funding for
professional development of teachers through the NC AP Partnership.
North Carolina’s five honor-roll districts saw
annual increases in AP participation from 2014 to 2016 ranging from 6 percent
to 37 percent. Large districts – those with 50,000 students or more – must have
seen an annual increase in participation of at least 4 percent to qualify;
medium districts, or those between 8,000 and 50,000 students, need to have
increased participation by at least 6 percent; and small districts with fewer
than 8,000 students must show annual increases of at least 11 percent.
In terms of performance, increases in percentages
of students earning a score of 3 or better ranged from 2 percent to 63 percent
among the five districts. Among all five, 823 more students earned a 3 or
higher on at least one AP exam.
Statewide, the percentage of graduates earning
a score of 3 or higher has increased 4.5 percent since 2006. North Carolina’s
class of 2016 ranked 19th in the nation for AP performance, with
20.6 percent of graduates earning a 3 or better on at least one of the exams.
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