Carlsbad Unified School District Named to College Board’s 4th Annual District Honor Roll for Significant Gains in Advanced Placement® Access and Student Performance

 Carlsbad Unified School District is one of 477 school districts in the U.S. and Canada, and the only district in San Diego County, being honored by the College Board with placement on the 4th Annual District Honor Roll. This recognition is based on an increased access to Advanced Placement (AP) coursework, while simultaneously maintaining the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams. Carlsbad Unified had nearly 19% more AP students in 2013 than in 2011, with 80% of the students earning scores of 3 or more.

“This honor demonstrates the commitment of our teachers to academic excellence,” said Dr. Suzette Lovely, Superintendent of Carlsbad Unified School District. “Our Board of Trustees has made the expansion of Advanced Placement classes a priority goal for the last several years, and our teachers and administrators have focused great efforts in this area. At Carlsbad Unified we believe that all students will succeed. We are extremely proud to achieve this honor.”

In 2013, more than 3,300 colleges and universities around the world received AP scores for college credit, advanced placement and/or consideration in the admission process, with many colleges and universities in the United States offering credit in one or more subjects for qualifying AP scores.

Data from 2013 show that among African American, Hispanic, and Native American students with a high degree of readiness for AP, only about half of students are participating because their schools do not always offer the AP course for which they have potential.  Carlsbad Unified is committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among students of all backgrounds.

“We applaud the extraordinary efforts of the devoted teachers and administrators in districts who have offered more students the opportunity to engage in rigorous college-level course work,” said Trevor Packer, the College Board’s senior vice president of AP and Instruction. “These outcomes are a powerful testament to educators’ belief that a more diverse population of students is ready for the rigor that will prepare them for success in college.”

Inclusion on the 4th Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of data from 2011 to 2013, using the following criteria:

·       Increasing participation/access to AP classes by at least 4% in large districts,  6% in medium districts, and 11% in small districts;

·       Increasing or maintaining the percentage of exams taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students, and;

·       Improving 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.

Most four-year colleges and universities in the United States grant credit, advanced placement, or both on the basis of successful AP Exam scores. In the last decade, participation in the AP Program has more than doubled. In May 2013, 2.2 million students representing 18,920 schools around the world, both public and private, took approximately four million AP Exams.

Taking AP courses demonstrates to college admission officers that students have sought the most rigorous curriculum available to them. 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.

 –CUSD press release