Gahr High Teacher Receives Jaime Escalante AP Award

Mr. Patrick Gordon, a social science teacher, has been awarded with the Jaime Escalante AP Award by the Western Regional Office of the College Board for his role in connecting students to success on Advanced Placement exams.

“Mr. Gordon’s contribution to the field of education is strong and is validated through his work at Gahr. He has presented at national education conferences on the topic of service learning and he contributes to the AP social science communities in the Los Angeles and Orange county regions,” said Dr. Gina Zietlow, principal of Gahr.

The Jaime Escalante AP Award was established to 2011, to recognize an individual who like Jaime Escalante -- a former East Los Angeles high school teacher who proved that inner-city students could master subjects as demanding as calculus -- embodies the passion, dedication and knowledge to help students succeed in and have access to Advanced Placement classes. Mr. Gordon’s commitment to teaching higher level U.S. history and social science and improving student success on AP exams is admirable. He is the only awardee from the Western Region. This is a regional award where nominations came from across the Western Regional Office’s 12 states. The Western Region is one of six for the College Board. The only other regional office to have a similar AP award is the Southern Regional Office in Duluth, GA.

Gordon has been teaching at Gahr for 15 years and he has 43 AP Microeconomics students and 72 AP U.S. History students who will be taking the AP tests this May, according to Dr. Larry Natividad, Interim Assistant Principal and AP Coordinator at the school.

Natividad, who nominated Gordon for the award, lauded the longtime teacher's role in the school's growth and success with the program.

“Mr. Gordon’s commitment to his AP US History program truly paid dividends. The growth and success of the program has been fantastic over the past 15 years," Natividad said. "Last year is a prime example with 46 of his 65 students passing the exam with a 3 or better. He debunked prior expectations of students who take AP US History and proved that students can do well in social science and language intensive classes.”

Gordon will be recognized by the Artesia City Council on Monday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. He will also be formally recognized at the College Board, Western Regional Forum in Las Vegas on Feb. 27.

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Established in 1900 in New York, the College Board promotes excellence and equity in education through programs for K–12 and higher education institutions and provides students a path to college opportunities. The College Board administers AP testing and scholarships. AP testing allows high school students to earn college credit if they score between 3 and 5 during their May testing weeks.