Every year, the College Board selects a number of school districts from across the United States and Canada to recognize with placement on the AP District Honor Roll. The annual award honors schools that are continuously expanding access to the AP curriculum while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the number of students with scores of 3 or higher on the annual exams. The Francis Howell School District was chosen as one of the 477 districts in the nation to receive recognition for persistently working toward these goals over a three year period.

“FHSD is one of only five Missouri school districts to earn this recognition,” Principal Sonny Arnel said.

Of the 520 school districts in the state of Missouri, only five were presented with this award. The other four Missouri districts, who received this honor in addition to FHSD, include Kirkwood, Wentzville, Rockwood, and McDonald County.

Inclusion on the 4th Annual AP District Honor Roll was based on a variety of criteria that must have been met and supported by AP data during the three year period from 2011 to 2013. The first of these requirements was an increase in access to AP courses by at least 4% in large districts, 6% in medium districts, and 11% in small districts. The second requirement was that the district must have increased or maintained the percentage of AP exams being taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students. The third and final requirement was an improvement in exam performance levels. The percentage of students who received a score of 3 or higher in 2013 had to be higher than the percentage who did so in 2011, unless the district had reached a level of performance at which more than 70% of its students were already scoring a 3 or higher.

FHSD met all three requirements to receive this award which honors the efforts of schools to increase exposure to AP course work and improve student performance on the May exams.

“The fact that FHSD met the stringent criteria to earn this recognition demonstrates the commitment of [teachers] to expand learning opportunities to more students,” Dr. Arnel said. “This outcome is the result of high expectations and commitment to the work to get it done.”