West Essex High Ranked in Top 600 Schools in US and Canada for Stellar AP Course Work

The West Essex Regional School District is one of 547 school districts in the U.S. and Canada being honored by the College Board with placement on the 5th Annual AP® District Honor Roll for increasing access to AP course work while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams.

“Reaching these goals indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are ready for the opportunity of AP,” Allison Freeman, Manager of Communications & Community Outreach for West Essex Regional Schools said. “Since 2012, West Essex has increased the number of students participating in AP while improving the number of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher.”

Since 2008, the West Essex Regional School District has increased AP enrollment by 57 percent, while also increasing the percentage of students scoring three or higher on an AP exam by 12 percent. 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.

West Essex has initiated several strategies to determine how to simultaneously expand access and improve student performance. The district currently offers 23 different AP courses to its high school students.

“West Essex continues to improve participation in AP Instruction and offer our students rigorous college level courses,” said West Essex Superintendent of Schools Barbara Longo. “We applaud our teachers and administrators for giving more of our students the opportunities that AP classes offer.”

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, including world language and culture. 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;
• Increase or maintain the percentage of exams taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students; and
• 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.

The complete 5th Annual AP District Honor Roll can be found here.

For more information, please contact Allison Freeman, Manager of Communications and Community Outreach, at (973) 228-1200 ext. 101 or by email at afreeman@westex.org.

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