Los Alamitos School District Makes AP Honor Roll for Third Time

In what is becoming an annual tradition, the local school district made the grade once more. 

For the third year in a row, the College Board named Los Alamitos Unified School District on their recent Advanced Placement Honor Roll — a list of school districts in the U.S. and Canada that have increased student access to AP Courses and increased the number of students scoring highly on AP Exams.

The College Board selected 539 districts across the two nations, and Los Al was one of 22 California School Districts to receive the title. Some other California districts include Tustin Unified and Long Beach Unified.

In a statement, Tom Torlakson, California superintendent of public instruction, said he was encouraged by the growing percentage of California high school graduates both taking and passing end-of-course AP exams.

“More of our high school students are challenging themselves by enrolling in college-level courses, and more of them meeting that challenge by passing these Advanced Placement exams,” Torlakson said. “These results reflect the high value California students and families place on being ready for college — and the increasing success our students and schools are having in achieving that goal.”

According to the the 9th Annual AP Report to the Nation by the College Board, 37.4 percent of graduates from California’s public high school class of 2012 took an AP exam during high school, up from 29.3 percent in 2007 and 24.1 percent in 2002.

And 24.7 percent of California’s graduates posted an AP exam passing score of 3 or higher. Among states, the report ranks California eighth in the nation in the percentage of its graduates scoring a 3 or higher on an AP exam. 

According to the California Department of Education, research shows that students who enroll in AP courses and take the end-of-course exam are better prepared for college and are more likely to graduate from college in the traditional four years.