DOWNEY – The College Board announced last week that the Downey Unified School District (DUSD) has earned a spot on the 5th Annual AP Honor Roll. This list is comprised of 547 districts across the U.S. and Canada being honored for increasing access to Advanced Placement (AP) coursework while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of three or higher on AP Exams.

There are over 1,000 districts in California, and DUSD was chosen as one of the 34 other California school districts to be on the AP Honor Roll. Reaching this goal means that DUSD “successfully identifies motivated, academically prepared students who are likely to benefit from rigorous AP coursework.”

Advanced Placement programs, or as most refer to it as AP programs, were designed to allow students a chance to earn college credit while still in high school. This program currently boasts more than 30 college-level course options that include a cumulative exam at the end, called the AP Exam, which enables students to receive college credit for material covered. The AP program also shows college admissions boards that students are able to handle the rigors of a postsecondary curriculum.

There are 169 students combined from both DUSD high schools that earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board; 86 Warren High School students and 83 Downey High School students. Approximately 14 percent of the more than 1.8 million high school students worldwide who pursued the AP Exams performed at a sufficiently high level to merit the recognition of AP Scholar.

The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity, created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education.

**********

Published: Dec. 4, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 34