School district earns honors for advanced placement

The Sartell-St. Stephen School District has joined a prestigious list of school districts nationwide and in Canada honored for their gains in advanced placement, access and student performance.
Sartell-St. Stephen is listed in the third annual Advanced Placement “Honor Roll.”
What the honor means is the district simultaneously increases access to advance-placement course work while also increasing the percentage of students earning scores of three or higher on AP exams.
Since 2010, Sartell-St. Stephen School District 748 has increased the number of students participating in advanced-placement courses from 32 to 181. The number of students achieving scores of three or more for advanced placement is above 70 percent. More than 90 percent of colleges and universities nationwide offer college credit, advanced placement or both for a score of three or above on AP exams. That can possibly save students thousands of dollars in tuition costs.
“This is exciting for our teachers and our students and a credit to their hard work as we continue to increase the rigor expected in AP coursework,” said Sartell High School Principal Brenda Steve. “Our staff have been amazing in their participation in training and preparing our students for the level of vigor. Our students and families have stepped up to the challenges and high expectations these courses demand. Our community has also been supportive through funding training and staff development. This honor is something we can all be proud of.”
The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program enables students to pursue college-level studies, with a chance to earn college credit, advanced placement or both while still in high school. Through AP courses in 34 subjects, each culminating in a rigorous exam, students learn to think critically, construct solid arguments and see many sides of an issue – skills designed to prepare students for college and beyond.
In the past decade, participation in the AP Program has more than doubled. In May 2012, 2.1 million students representing more than 18,000 schools throughout the world, public and private, took 2.7 million AP exams.