This Springfield School District Gets Prestigious Honor

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Hundreds of school districts, including one in Springfield, have been named to the annual AP District Honor Roll, which recognizes schools that increase access and performance related to Advanced Placement programs. More than 370 school districts across the country and in Canada were recognized on the 9th annual list.

In our area, the Diocese of Springfield Education Office made the list.
To qualify, large school districts had to show there was at least 4 percent more participation and access to Advanced Placement programs. Medium districts had to see at least a 6 percent increase and small districts had to see at least 11 percent.

>> See all 22 Illinois school districts that made AP Honor Roll

These schools increased access to Advanced Placement courses for minority students while also improving or maintaining the rate at which participating students scored a 3 or higher on an AP Exam.

The organization noted the districts that saw at least 30 percent enrollment of American Indian, African-American and Hispanic/Latino students with an asterisk. Those where at least 30 percent of participants qualified for free or reduced lunch were noted with a dagger symbol. Districts that received a star achieved the honor over multiple years.

National data from this year showed that about half of underrepresented students with a "high degree of readiness for AP" participated in the program, the organization wrote on its website.

College Board sponsors the Advanced Placement program and the popular SAT test, which attempts to assess a students' college-readiness. The Honor Roll recognition is based on three years of data from 2016 to 2018.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Charles Dharapak/Associated Press