Mason Schools is among 367 school districts across the nation and Canada being honored by the College Board for gains in advanced placement (AP) course access and student performance.
Mason is one of 23 schools in the state and one of 5 in the Greater Cincinnati area to receive the recognition. Lakota, Forest Hills, Indian Hills, Kings and Madeira schools were also recognized.
“In Mason, we’ve established our own benchmarks for delivering an excellent education in a cost-efficient manner that is in line with the high expectations of our community and families,” said Superintendent Gail Kist-Kline.
“While our spending is below the state average (and significantly below our high-perfoming peers) our students continue to perform well-above state and national averages using multiple measures, including participation in and achievement on Advanced Placement courses.”
The award is given to districts that have opened advanced placement classroom doors to a significantly broader pool of students, while maintaining or improving the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher, the score typically needed to earn college credit.
In 2010-2011, 619 Mason students took 1,040 AP exams with 90 percent of students scoring a three or higher.
Mason received similar honors earlier this year for gains in 2008 to 2010, when the district increased the number of students participating in AP from 392 to 529. Two-thirds of those students maintained AP Exam scores of 3 or higher, from 89 percent in 2008 to 85 percent in 2010.
The College Board, which administers the AP program, said the 367 schools on its AP Achievement List represent school districts in 45 states and six provinces in Canada.
Trevor Packer, vice president of the College Board’s Advanced Placement program, says the goal is to broaden the program to include more minorities and students in general, while continuing to maintain or improve student performance.
“These school districts have achieved something truly remarkable,” he said. ”They managed to open the doors of their 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.”
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