Tahoma earns national ranking for AP success

Tahoma School District is among 14 school districts in Washington and 367 in 43 states and Canada that are included in the second-annual Advanced Placement District Honor Roll. The honor is bestowed by the The College Board, which administers the Advanced Placement program and the SAT.

“Exposing students to college courses in high school increases their confidence, academic background knowledge, and study skill repertoire, and prepares them for rigor in secondary and post-secondary learning,” said Brooke Dillon, AP coordinator at Tahoma High School. 

School districts earn a place on the AP Honor Roll by simultaneously increasing access to Advanced Placement coursework while maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP exams.

Since 2009, Tahoma School District increased the number of students participating in AP while improving the percentage of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher from 70 percent in 2009 to 74 percent in 2011.  The majority of U.S. colleges and universities grant college credit or advanced placement for a score of 3 or above on AP exams.  Achieving both of these goals is the ideal scenario for a district’s Advanced Placement program, because it indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically-prepared students who are likely to benefit most from AP coursework. 

Dillon said Tahoma’s AP classes accounted for 762 seats in 2008-2009 and jumped to 917 seats in 2010-2011.  “This 20 percent growth rate in three years can be attributed to our students’ willingness to take risks and stretch themselves to take rigorous classes,” she said. The addition of AP environmental science as part of the 10th-grade Outdoor Academy and the addition of AP human geography and physics B this year continue to attract more students to the programs, she said.

“Tahoma students are continuing to challenge themselves and to embrace learning, and we are very proud of them and of this award,” Dillon said.
That kind of program growth and student success is what drew the notice of The College Board.

“This school district has achieved something very remarkable,” said Trevor Packer, the College Board’s senior vice president of Advanced Placement and college readiness. “It managed to open the doors of its AP classrooms to many more students, while also increasing the percentage of students earning high enough AP Exam grades to stand out in the competitive college admission process and qualify for college credit and placement.”

Tahoma High School Assistant Principal Diane Fox said teachers work hard to prepare students for the rigors of college-level classes.

“The culture of learning in our school district is special,” Fox said. “Tahoma’s staff prepares students for rigor across all grade levels and content areas. Our students are prepared for rigor upon entering the high school and are prepared for whatever their post-secondary plans may be.” 

Inclusion on the 2nd Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the following criteria:

• Examination of three years of AP data, from 2009 to 2011;
• Increase in participation in/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;
• A steady or increasing percentage of exams taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native students; and
• Performance levels maintained or improved when comparing the percentage of students in 2011 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2009, or the school has already attained a performance level in which more than 70 percent of the AP students are scoring a 3 or higher.

School districts in which low-income and/or underrepresented minority students (African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native) comprise 30 percent or more of the AP student population have been highlighted on the Achievement List to recognize significant improvements in equity and quality among the nation’s historically underserved student populations.

The complete 2nd Annual AP District Honor Roll can be found at www.collegeboard.org.