Bangor School Department is one of 547 school districts in the U.S. and Canada, and one in seven school districts in Maine, being honored by the College Board with placement on the 5th Annual AP^® District Honor Roll for increasing access to AP course work while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams. 2014 is a milestone year for the AP District Honor Roll, and more districts are achieving this objective than ever before. Reaching these goals indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are ready for the opportunity of AP. Since 2012, Bangor School Department has increased the number of students participating in AP while improving the number of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher.

“In keeping with our mission of academic excellence for all students, we’re pleased to offer 20 different AP classes to any student willing to take on this challenge. We’re proud of the 219 BHS students last year who took a total of 539 AP exams,” said Dr. Betsy Webb, Superintendent of Schools. “The fact that 81% of our students earned a score of 3 or higher on their AP exams, compared to a state average of 63%, is a testament to their hard work and the dedication of our excellent faculty.”

“The devoted teachers and administrators in this district are delivering an undeniable benefit to their students: opportunity. When coupled with a student’s hard work, such opportunities can have myriad outcomes, whether building confidence, learning to craft effective arguments, earning credit for college, or persisting to graduate from college on time,” said Trevor Packer, the College Board’s senior vice president of AP and Instruction.

In 2014, more than 3,800 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.

Inclusion on the 5th Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of AP data, from 2012 to 2014, looking across 34 AP Exams, including world language and culture. The following criteria were used.

Districts must:

• Increase participation/access to AP by at least 4 percent in large districts, at least 6 percent in medium districts, and at least 11 percent in small districts;
• Increase or maintain the percentage of exams taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students; and
• Improve performance levels when comparing the percentage of students in 2014 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2012, 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.

The complete 5th Annual AP District Honor Roll can be found here.