Districts 300, 301, 303 earn advance placement honors

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

CARPENTERSVILLE -- Community Unit School District 300 is one of only 388 school districts across the country to make the 2011 Advance Placement Achievement List, part of the College Board’s 2011 School District of the Year Awards announced this week.

The Carpentersville area school district is joined on that list by just 27 school districts in Illinois, including nearby Burlington Central Community Unit School District 301, St. Charles Community Unit School District 303, Indian Prairie Community Unit School District 204 and Oswego Community Unit School District 308.

Chicago Public Schools was named District with the Greatest Increase in the Number of African American, Hispanic/Latino and/or American Indian Students Earning AP Exam Scores of 3 or Higher among large districts with more than 3,500 students enrolled in AP courses in 2010. And Arlington Heights Township Public High School District 211 was named District with the Greatest Increase in the Number of Students Earning AP Exam Scores of 3 or Higher overall among medium districts (200 or more students in AP courses).

Chicago Public Schools also took top honor: 2011 AP School District of the Year among large school districts.

The AP Achievement List recognizes U.S. public school districts that both increased access to AP, or advanced placement, courses for a broader number of students and maintained or improved the rate at which their AP students earned scores of 3 or higher on an AP exam, according to the 2011 AP School District of the Year Awards report on the College Board website.

And District 300 Superintendent Kenneth Arndt said Friday in a written statement, “This national honor recognizes D300’s ongoing commitment to academic excellence and college readiness for all students.”

“Over the past five years, D300 leaders and educators have given significant focus and energy to the advance placement program. We are very pleased about the academic progress we are making for a larger and more diverse group of our students, who now have a brighter future.”

From 2006 to 2010, District 300 has increased the number of AP courses it offers from six to 13, including environmental science, calculus and art. It also has trained more middle and high school teachers on AP skills and strategies and pushed those course options through its AVID program, which takes middle-performing students and advances them, the district said.

In that time, the number of students in AP courses has increased from 602 to 900, according to the district. And minority enrollment in AP courses is up to 22 percent, from 13 percent in 2006, mostly because of AVID and a “concerted effort” by the district, according to a written statement.

More students have chosen to take AP exams: 63 percent in 2010, compared to 50 percent in 2006, the district said. And more are earning scores of 3 or higher on those exams, which is the score typically needed to earn college credit. That number jumped from 65 percent in 2006 to 77 percent in 2010.

Through AP courses and exams, students can earn college credit, stand out in the college admission process and learn from curricula evaluated and approved by college faculty from some of the country’s leading institutions, according to the College Board website.