NEW YORK — On Thursday, March 8, 2012, the Copiague School District will be honored as the Advanced Placement® District of the Year for being the nation’s leader, among small school districts, in simultaneously expanding access to Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) courses and maintaining or improving AP Exam performance. Copiague’s students, teachers, district and school administrators, local public officials, and College Board staff will celebrate these achievements during an award ceremony on Thursday morning.
“As we continue our efforts to expand access to AP while maintaining or improving performance, districts like Copiague offer a model of success that can be replicated all across the country,” said College Board President Gaston Caperton. “The College Board is proud to recognize the students, faculty and administrators of Copiague for their innovation, commitment and belief in themselves. Congratulations on a job well done.”
Winning Statistics:
From 2009 to 2011, the Copiague School District:
- Increased student participation in AP by 15 percent annually
- Increased the percentage of AP students earning a 3 or higher on at least one AP Exam by 16 percent annually
- Increased the percentage of traditionally underserved minority AP students earning a 3 or higher on at least one AP Exam by 28 percent annually
No other U.S. school district of Copiague’s size has achieved a larger improvement in AP Exam scores over the past three years. Much of Copiague’s success can be attributed to implementing rigorous course work during the middle school years.
“In the realm of best practices regarding AP, what has worked for us was the creation of a pre-AP curriculum in several courses. This was then articulated with the corresponding middle school program to increase the rigor of honors classes,” said Copiague’s District Superintendent Charles A. Leunig. “Up and down the line, this practice has led to ensuring that our students are better prepared earlier for the more advanced rigors of AP.”
Copiague was one of three districts selected from the 2nd Annual AP Honor Roll* to receive the College Board’s Advanced Placement District of the Year Award. Polk County Public Schools in Florida received this award in the large-district category, and the Val Verde Unified School District in California was honored in the midsize district category. All three winning districts will be honored again at a celebratory plenary session at the AP Annual Conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on July 21, 2012.
Research indicates that students who succeed on an AP Exam during high school typically experience greater academic success in college and are more likely to earn a college degree than their peers. Helping more students learn at a higher level and develop the critical thinking skills and content knowledge essential for college success is an objective shared by all members of the AP community, from AP teachers to district and school administrators to college professors. Many are experimenting with a variety of initiatives and strategies to determine how to expand access and improve student performance simultaneously.
*The 2nd Annual AP District Honor Roll includes 367 districts from across the U.S. and Canada that achieved the rare accomplishment of having expanded the number of students participating in AP courses and exams without seeing any decreases in the rate at which their students earned AP scores of 3 or higher.
About the Advanced Placement Program
The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) enables willing and academically prepared students to pursue college-level studies – with the opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement or both – while still in high school. Through AP courses in 34 subjects, each culminating in a rigorous exam, students learn to think critically, construct solid arguments, and see many sides of an issue – skills that prepare them for college and beyond. Taking AP courses demonstrates to college admission officers that students have sought the most rigorous curriculum available to them, and research indicates that students who score a 3 or higher on an AP Exam typically experience greater academic success in college and are more likely to earn a college degree than non-AP students. Each AP teacher’s syllabus is evaluated and approved by faculty from some of the nation’s leading colleges and universities, and AP Exams are developed and scored by college faculty and experienced AP teachers. Most four-year colleges and universities in the United States grant credit, advancement placement or both on the basis of successful AP Exam scores – more than 3,600 institutions worldwide annually receive AP scores. In the last decade, participation in the AP Program has more than doubled and graduates succeeding on AP Exams have nearly doubled. In 2011, nearly 2 million students representing more than 18,000 schools around the world, both public and nonpublic, took 3.4 million AP Exams.
About the College Board
The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of more than 5,900 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT® and the Advanced Placement Program®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators and schools. For further information, visit www.collegeboard.org.
Media Contact: Deborah Davis, The College Board 212-713-8052 communications@collegeboard.org