Kutztown School District has been placed on the College Board’s 7th Annual AP District Honor Roll for significant gains in student access and success.
Kutztown Area School District is one of 433 school districts in the U.S. and Canada, and one of 44 school districts in Pennsylvania being honored by the College Board. To be included, the School District had to, since 2014, increase the number of students participating in AP while also increasing or maintaining the percentage of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher. Reaching these goals shows that this district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are ready for AP, according to the College Board release.
“We are extremely honored to receive this designation from the College Board,” said Kutztown Superintendent Dr. George F. Fiore. “Our students, staff, and administration should be congratulated for their hard work and commitment for increasing access and challenging all students to engage in college level curricula.”
Kutztown School District offers 11 AP courses including AP Biology, AP Calculus, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP Government, AP Literature, AP English Language, AP Physics, AP Psychology, AP Statistics, and AP US History. AP courses are open to all sophomores, juniors, and seniors. There are 112 AP course enrollments this school year, according to Fiore.
Kutztown Area High School Principal Barry Flicker said AP courses provide students the opportunity to take college-level courses while they are still in high school.
“AP courses provide a higher level of rigor for students who want to challenge themselves academically in a specific content area. AP courses and their teachers set the tone and expectations within the high school, providing the highest level of thinking and student teacher interaction,” said Flicker. “Countless students return to our campus each year to share how the level of rigor within our AP courses has prepared them exceptionally well for life after high school and given them an opportunity to either continue study in that content area or concentrate on other areas of study.”
Flicker also noted that for many Kutztown students, AP courses have made college more affordable, as they entered college with at least a semester-worth of college credits.
“In addition, AP courses give many students the flexibility to study abroad or take a lighter academic load for a semester to pursue unique educational opportunities and still graduate from college on time,” said Flicker.
Fiore said Kutztown Area School District is committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and motivated students of all backgrounds.
“Congratulations to all the teachers and administrators in this district who have worked so tirelessly to both expand access to AP and also to help students succeed on the AP Exams,” Trevor Packer, the College Board’s head of AP and Instruction, said in a release. “These teachers and administrators are delivering real opportunity in their schools and classrooms, and students are rising to the challenge.”
According to the release, in 2016, 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 admission process. Inclusion on the 7th Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on a review of three years of AP data, from 2014 to 2016, looking across 37 AP Exams, including world language and culture. The following criteria included 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; increase or maintain the percentage of exams taken by black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students; and improve or maintain performance levels when comparing the 2016 percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher to the 2014 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.
