Mahwah Schools Make AP Honor Roll

Usually, certain students will make the honor roll, not an entire district.

The Mahwah school district announced this week it has been named to the third annual AP District Honor Roll, which recognizes schools with students that have made significant achievements on Advanced Placement exams. The 539 schools across the country that made the list met two main criteria: increasing access to AP coursework and increasing the percentage of students who score a three or higher on AP exams.

In May, 183 Mahwah High School students took 369 AP exams across 19 different subject areas. 85% of them received a score of 3, 4 or 5.

According to the release, those statistics fulfill the College Board’s Honor Roll requirements:

• [School 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
• [School must] ensure that the percentage of African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students taking AP exams did not decrease by more than 5 percent for large and medium districts or by more than 10 percent for small districts
• [School must] improve performance levels when comparing the percentage of students in 2012 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2010, unless the district has already attained a performance level in which more than 70 percent of the  AP students are scoring a 3 or higher

Only 34 districts in New Jersey and six in Bergen County made the list. The other county school districts making this year’s list are Midland Park, Northern Highlands, Park Ridge, Waldwick and Washington Township.

According to a presentation MHS Guidance Director Dominick Gliatta gave the Board of Education last month, “more students in Mahwah are taking [AP exams], and they are getting more comfortable with the tests.” The district is also broadening the types of AP courses it offers. For example, 2012 marked the first time Mahwah students could take AP Music Theory, he said.

College Board President David Coleman congratulated districts able to fulfill all three standards in a release this week.

“We applaud the extraordinary efforts of the devoted teachers and administrators in these districts, who are fostering rigorous work worth doing,” he said. “These educators have not only expanded student access to AP course  work, but they have enabled more of their students to achieve on a college level—which is helping to create a strong college-going culture.”

See the entire AP Honor Roll here.

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