West Linn-Wilsonville School District Recognized for
Achieving Significant Gains in Both AP Access and Student
Performance
I am pleased to announce that for the second consecutive year the West Linn-Wilsonville
School District is one of the outstanding school districts in the nation honored by the College
Board with a place on the 3rd Annual AP® Honor Roll List. Districts on the AP Honor Roll are
recognized for their efforts in opening AP classroom doors to a significantly broader group of
students, while maintaining or improving the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or
higher. This honor is a credit to the breadth and depth of support, persistence, and ethic of our
entire school community.
Achieving the goals of increased access while maintaining high performance indicates that our
educators are successfully preparing students for rigorous Advanced Placement course work
while removing barriers to access. More than 90 percent of colleges and universities across the
U.S. offer college credit, advanced placement or both for a score of 3 or higher on an AP Exam.
This can potentially save students and their families thousands of dollars in college tuition while
simultaneously helping us to achieve our district and state achievement goals and outcomes.
These outcomes are a powerful testament to our teachers’ belief that many more students are
coming to school ready and waiting for the sort of rigor that would prepare them for what they
would encounter in college.
“We applaud the extraordinary efforts of the devoted teachers and administrators in these 539
districts, who are fostering rigorous work worth doing. 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,” said
College Board President, David Coleman.
Improvement in AP results takes a sustained and coherent effort. The District Honor Roll is
based on examination of three years of AP data: 2010, 2011, and 2012 data from all students
who took AP Examinations in May of those years. Within the three year analysis, inclusion on
the list is based on the following criteria:
1. Increase in participation in/access to AP
2. The percentage of African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska
native students taking AP exams
3. Performance levels must be maintained or improved when comparing the percentage
of exams in 2012 with a score of 3 or higher to those in 2010, 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.
Once again, we congratulate our schools and students for earning this great honor
and we wish for everyone the opportunity to use their learning for the world.
Bill Rhoades
Superintendent
West Linn-Wilsonville School District