For the fourth year in a row, the College Board named Lake Washington School District (LWSD) to its Annual AP District Honor Roll.

LWSD is one of only 431 public school districts in the nation and one of eight in Washington to be honored.

The Honor Roll recognizes districts that increase access to Advanced Placement (AP) coursework while maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP exams. Districts that reach these goals successfully identify motivated, academically prepared students who are likely to benefit from rigorous AP course work.

This is the fifth time that LWSD has received this recognition in the eight years of the Honor Roll.

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. Achieving that score may save students and their families thousands of dollars in college tuition.

“I am so pleased and proud that our district has again been named to the AP District Honor Roll this year,” LWSD Superintendent Traci Pierce said in a press release. “Our teachers and staff and working hard to prepare our students for success, and our students are succeeding and demonstrating their ability to master college level coursework while still in high school.”

The number of AP tests taken by LWSD students increased from 3,758 in 2015 to 3,934 in 2016 to 4,526 in 2017. The rate of students achieving a score of 3 or higher was 80 percent in 2015, remained 80 percent for 2016 and increased to 81 percent in 2017.

Inclusion on the 8th Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on three years of AP data, from 2015 to 2017. The criteria follow.

• · Increased participation/access to AP by at least 4 percent in large districts, 6 percent in medium districts, and 11 percent in small districts.
• · Increased or maintained the percentage of exams taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students; and
• · Improved performance levels when comparing the percentage of students in 2017 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2015, unless the district has already attained a performance level at which more than 70 percent of its AP students are scoring a 3 or higher.