West Islip Recognized By College Board for AP Achievements

West Islip was among one of 11 Long Island school districts recently recognized nationally by the College Board  for its Advanced Placement exam scoring and improving course access. 

The College Board, which creates more than 30 AP exams and is responsible for overseeing corresponding courses, included West Islip School District in its latest AP Achievement List, which was released earlier this month.

The district was one of 388 districts nationally to be honored by the College Board for increasing AP course sizes and subjects while maintaining or improving the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP exams. 

The other Long Island districts to be named to the AP Achievement list were Copiague, Eastport-South Manor Central, Great Neck, Harborfields Central, Herricks, Hicksville, Malverne, Massapequa, Sayville and Syosset. 

Burnadette Burns, assistant superintendent for Secondary Curriculum and Instruction for West Islip schools, said that West Islip offers 16 different AP courses in various disciplines, including math, fine arts, and languages. 

"Over the last few years, we have been enrolling more students into our college-level classes, including Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) courses," Burns said. "We are currently writing curriculum that will afford our music theory students the opportunity to earn college credit through an advanced placement course in the future."

Burns said that in 2010, 227 different students took a total of 425 AP exams, up from 185 students (who sat for 339 exams) in 2007.  She noted that 77 percent of those students scored a 3 or higher, which may qualify a student for college credit. 

"Research has shown that students who take AP courses and exams are much more likely to graduate in four years," Burns said.

Additionally, 63 West Islip students earned AP Scholar status in 2010, Burns said.

According to a College Board press release, the following criteria must be met in order to be eligible for the AP Achievement List::

• Examination of three years of AP data, from 2008 to 2010;
• Increase in participation in/access to AP by at least 4 percent in large districts, at least 7 percent in medium districts and at least 11 percent in small districts;
• A steady or increasing percentage of exams taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native students; and
• Performance levels maintained or improved when comparing the percentage of exams in 2010 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2008, or the school has already attained a performance level in which more than 70 percent of the AP students are scoring a 3 or higher.

“These districts are living proof that when access to AP is provided for the range and breadth of prepared and motivated students, districts can achieve even higher learning outcomes for their students — and the opportunity for so many more to earn college credit and placement — than when AP opportunities were restricted to a smaller segment of the high school population” said Trevor Packer, vice president of the Advanced Placement Program at the College Board.