AUSD Honored for Increasing Access to AP Courses

The College Board has placed Alameda Unified School District on the AP District Honor Roll, according to an AUSD press release.

The roll includes 477 districts across the U.S. and Canada that have increased access to AP (Advanced Placement) course work, while maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP exams, the release says.

Students with a score of 3 or above on an AP exam may receive college credit at some universities.

In the greater Bay Area, Fremont and Tracy were the only other districts that received this distinction.

Since the 2010-11 school year, AUSD’s two traditional high schools (Alameda High and Encinal) have increased the total number of students taking AP courses from 682  to 993 and the number taking exams from 682 to 895, according to district figures.

The total number of AP classes taken (one student can take more than one class) at the two campuses has risen from 1,562 to 2,018.

Broken down by ethnicity, the number of AP classes taken by students at AHS and EHS since 2010-2011 rose as follows:

• Hispanic/Latino students: 69 to 136
• Black/African American students:  75 to 76
• Filipino/Filipino American students: 100 to 140
• Asian Asian/American students: 760 to 1,094
• White students: 433 to 553

The College Board examined three years of AP data (2011 to 2013) for this year’s list and included only those districts that:

• Increased 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 exams taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students, and;
• Improved performance levels when comparing the percentage of students in 2013 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2011, 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.

 “The fact that AUSD is helping more students take these higher-level courses and earn higher AP scores is a sign of the tremendous work our teachers and administrators have put into our AP program,” said Superintendent of Schools Kirsten Vital.

“It is exciting to me to see how we are expanding our reach and helping more and more students gain access to this very valuable opportunity.”