District 303 Wins National Recognition From College Board

The College Board has named St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 to the third annual Advanced Placement Honor Roll.

District 303 becomes one of just 539 school districts in the nation to receive the honor, according to a release from the district on Monday, Nov, 12, 2012.

The release states that research shows that high school students benefit from taking advanced placement courses because they earn college credit, which reduces college costs, and they perform more successfully in college — making better grades, having an increased likelihood of graduating and being more likely to graduate in just four years — than students who did not take advanced placement classes.

Districts named to the Advanced Placement Honor Roll must work to enroll more students in advanced placement classes while maintaining or improving the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on advanced placement exams, the release states.

Inclusion on the third annual Advanced Placement Honor Roll is based on:

• Examination of three years of advanced placement data from students who took advanced placement exams in May 2010, 2011 and 2012.
• Increase in participation in/access to advanced placement by at least 4 percent in large districts, at least 6 percent in medium districts and at least 11 percent in small districts.
• Performance levels maintained or improved when comparing the percentage of students in 2012 scoring a 3 or higher on advanced placement exams to those in 2010, or the school already has attained a performance level in which more than 70 percent of the advanced placement students are scoring a 3 or higher on advanced placement exams.

According to the release, District 303 had a 24 percent increase in the number of students who took advanced placement courses from 2008-09 to 2011-12 (from 817 to 1,014) and saw a six-point increase (from 66 percent to 72 percent) during the same time period in the number of advanced placement exams with a score of 3, 4 or 5, which commonly are considered passing scores.

Related:

• List of all 539 school districts listed on the Advanced Placement Honor Roll