MANCHESTER, NH – Manchester School District is one of 547 school districts in the U.S. and Canada honored by being named to the College Board’s 5th Annual Advanced Placement District Honor Roll.
The honor is given to school districts that increase access to advanced placement course work while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams.
Only six districts in New Hampshire have achieved this objective this year.
Along with Manchester, the Exeter, Goffstown, Lebanon, Oyster River and Windham school districts are on the honor roll. Reaching these goals indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are ready for the opportunity of AP.
Since 2012, Manchester School District has increased the number of students participating in AP while improving the number of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher.
“We are extremely proud of our high school teachers and counselors for encouraging students to challenge themselves in AP subjects that include world history, physics, English literature, computer science, and studio art,” said Superintendent Dr. Debra Livingston. “That means more students every year are committed to raising the bar on learning what they can achieve, and the teachers work hard with students to prepare them well for the exams.”
The first step to delivering the opportunity of AP to students is providing access by ensuring courses are available and that the doors are equitably opened so all students can participate. Manchester School District is committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and motivated students of all backgrounds.
“The devoted teachers and administrators in this district are delivering an undeniable benefit to their students: opportunity. When coupled with a student’s hard work, such opportunities can have myriad outcomes, whether building confidence, learning to craft effective arguments, earning credit for college, or persisting to graduate from college on time.” said Trevor Packer, the College Board’s senior vice president of AP and Instruction.“We applaud your conviction that a more diverse population of students is ready for the sort of rigor that will prepare them for success in college.”
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 a variety of initiatives and strategies to determine how to simultaneously expand access and improve student performance.
In 2014, more than 3,800 colleges and universities around the world received AP scores for college credit, advanced placement, and/or consideration in the admission process, with many colleges and universities in the United States offering credit in one or more subjects for qualifying AP scores. Inclusion on the 5th Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of AP data, from 2012 to 2014, looking across 34 AP exams.
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; Manchester is a medium-sized district and saw an increase of 10 percent over those two years.
• Increase or maintain the percentage of exams taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students; the rate in Manchester rose from 5 percent in 2012 to 7 percent in 2014.
• Improve performance levels when comparing the percentage of students in 2014 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2012, unless the district has already attained a performance level at which more than 70 percent of its AP students are scoring a 3 or higher; Manchester’s percentage of those students scoring at least a 3 in 2014 was 75 percent.
