Rutherford Public Schools is one of 250 districts in the United States and Canada to be honored by the College Board with placement on its 10th Annual AP District Honor Roll.
To be included, Rutherford High School’s student participation had to improve compared to 2017 levels. More students had to take Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and the percentage of them scoring 3 or higher on AP exams had to stay steady or increase.
Reaching those goals shows that Rutherford Public Schools is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are ready for AP, and teaching them in ways that result in good scores.
“Rutherford High School offers 18 AP courses that cover a wide range of subjects,” said Superintendent of Schools Jack Hurley. “These options are a terrific opportunity for students who want to challenge themselves with college-level work, and potentially earn college credits.”
College Board reports that in 2019, more than 4,000 colleges and universities around the world received AP scores for college credit, advanced placement, or both, and/or consideration in the admissions process.
Rutherford High School has 183 students enrolled in AP courses, and about half of them will take more than one exam; the school will administer 326 exams this spring. The school’s AP offerings run the gamut from Art History, Drawing, Music Theory and Human Geography to Chemistry, Physics, Calculus and Computer Science. The selection includes English Language and Composition, French Language, Spanish Language, U.S. History and European History.
This is the district’s second consecutive year on the AP District Honor Roll, and the fifth time it has made the list in 10 years. Since 2017, the school has registered 22% more students for AP courses, scheduled 18% more exams, and applauded 26% more students for scores of 3 or higher. For Honor Roll inclusion, districts including Rutherford met these criteria:
- Increased participation/access to AP by at least 4% in large districts, at least 6% in medium districts, and at least 11% in small districts similar to Rutherford’s size;
- Increased or maintained the percentage of underrepresented minority students taking exams and increased or maintained the percentage of those students scoring 3 or higher on at least one AP exam; and
- Improved or maintained performance levels when comparing the 2019 percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher to the 2017 percentage, unless the district had already attained a performance level at which more than 70% of its AP students earn a 3 or higher. Rutherford met the latter point, with 86 percent of AP test-takers scoring 3 or higher in spring 2019.