New Haven Honored for Advanced Placement Efforts

From the New Haven Unified School District

The is one of a select group of U.S. public school districts being recognized for increasing access to Advanced Placement tests, while at the same time maintaining a high level of student success.

New Haven was named Tuesday to the AP Honor Roll selected by the College Board, a group of more than 5,900 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations who share the standardized tests used to measure a student's readiness for post-secondary education.

New Haven is one of only 367 districts nationwide – and only 18 in the state – to simultaneously increase access to Advanced Placement coursework while maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP exams. The majority of U.S. colleges and universities grant college credit or advanced placement for a score of 3 or above on AP exams.

Superintendent Kari McVeigh congratulated Principal Amy McNamara and the staff and students of James Logan High School, noting that virtually all of New Haven’s AP students attend Logan, the District’s lone comprehensive high school.

“Amy and her staff have shown a commitment to providing access to ALL students,” Ms. McVeigh said, “and they’ve made an extra effort to make certain groups that are traditionally under-represented in AP classes – particularly African American and Latino students – not only have access but are successful.”

Since 2009, the number of New Haven students taking AP classes has increased from 341 to 551 while percentage of students scoring 3 or higher on AP tests has remained virtually unchanged (73 percent in 2009, 71 percent in 2011).

New Haven “has achieved something very remarkable,” College Board senior vice president Trevor Packer said. “It managed to open the doors of its AP classrooms to many more students, while also (maintaining) 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.” 

According to the College Board, achieving both of these goals is the ideal scenario for a district’s Advanced Placement program, because it indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically-prepared students who are likely to benefit most from AP coursework.