Riverview and Plum School Districts Show Significant Gains in Advanced Placement Access and Student Performance

and school districts are two of fewer than 400 school districts in the nation being honored by the College Board with a place on its AP Achievement List for opening advance placement classroom doors to a significantly broader pool of students, while maintaining or improving the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on the annual AP test.

The 2011 AP Achievement List is made up of all school districts that are simultaneously expanding opportunity and improving performance, so even low-performing districts are included if they have been able to maintain or improve scores while expanding access. The list includes 388 school districts representing 43 states.

There were 28 school districts in Pennsylvania that were honored.

Inclusion on the list is based on the following criteria:

• Examination of three years of AP data, from 2008 to 2010.
• Increase in participation in/access to AP by at least 4 percent in large districts, at least 7 percent in medium districts and at least 11 percent in small districts.
• A steady or increasing percentage of exams taken by black, Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native students.
• Performance levels maintained or improved when comparing the percentage of exams in 2010 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2008, 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.

The complete AP Achievement List can be found at www.collegeboard.org.