For Immediate Release

Monday, Dec. 14, 2015

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Melrose Public Schools Earns Spot on College Board’s Sixth Annual AP District Honor Roll

MELROSE — Superintendent Cyndy Taymore is pleased to announce that the Melrose Public Schools earned a place on the Sixth Annual Advanced Placement District Honor Roll for expanding access to AP courses while simultaneously increasing the number of students earning scores of three or higher on the exams.

This achievement indicates that the Melrose School District successfully identified, motivated and academically prepared students for AP classes.

Inclusion on the Sixth Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of AP data, from 2013 to 2015, looking across 34 AP Exams, including world language and culture.

“Our goal is to give every student who is interested in taking an AP course the opportunity to do so during their high school career,” Superintendent Taymore said. “Now more than ever, we see students placing value on AP courses to prepare for college, diversify their course load and challenge themselves. We continue to improve and increase our resources for AP courses every year to provide students with the skills to succeed in these classes.”

To earn a spot on this year’s honor roll, districts had to:

• Increase participation/access to AP by at least four percent in large districts, at least six percent in medium districts and at least 11 percent in small districts
• Expand or maintain the percentage of exams taken by black/African American, Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native students
• Improve or maintain performance levels when comparing the 2015 percentage of students scoring a three or higher to the 2013 percentage, unless the district had already attained a performance level at which more than 70 percent of its AP students were scoring a three or higher.

“That the committed teachers and administrators in this district have both expanded AP access and also helped their students achieve high levels of performance on AP Exams shows they’re delivering opportunity in their schools and classrooms, and it is a real testament to their belief that a more diverse population of young people is ready for the challenge of college,” said Trevor Packer, the College Board’s senior vice president of AP and Instruction. “Congratulations to these teachers and administrators, and to their hard-working students.”

National data from 2015 shows that among black/African American, Hispanic and Native American students with a high degree of readiness for AP, only about half of students are participating. Melrose Public Schools, however, remains committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and motivated students of all backgrounds.

Melrose is one of the 425 school districts across the U.S. and Canada that were honored this year. View the complete list here.

Additionally, eight members of the Melrose High School staff were named Partners in Excellence by Mass Insight as a result of their work improving student outcomes on the recent Advanced Placement exams. Recognized teachers include Christina Cardella, Laurie Greenwood, Tanja Hiti-Stearns, Heather MacDonald, Brittney Martin, Nancy Naslas, Kerri Scott and Suzanne Troy. They will be honored at a ceremony in April 2016 and are among the 54 Massachusetts teachers who have earned this distinction.

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