Monday, December 14, 2015

Beaver Dam School District Makes College Board Honor Roll


The College Board has announced the 6th Annual Advanced Placement (AP) School District Honor Roll.  The College Board honors less than 5% of school districts across the United States and Canada for increasing access to and success in college level Advanced-Placement courses at the high-school level.  

Helping more students learn at a higher level and earn high Advanced-Placement scores is a goal the College Board and the Beaver Dam School District share.  Inclusion on the 6th annual AP School District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of school achievement data from 2013-2015, looking specifically at the following criteria:

  • Increased participation and access to AP courses
  • Increased academic achievement in the area of college bound course work

The Beaver Dam Unified School District is excited to receive this recognition on behalf of its hardworking and dedicated students, families, and staff.  

“Our school district is excited to offer a robust list of Advanced-Placement courses in all areas of study at our high school.  An expanding number of students are taking advantage of these rigorous opportunities and are achieving at unprecedented levels,”  stated Steve Vessey, Superintendent of Beaver Dam Schools.

This past year, 197 high school students took 342 Advanced-Placement courses, with a pass rate of 80%.  This pass rate was substantially above the State and National benchmarks and a 14% increase from the previous year.

“The commitment of staff across all grades in our school district to expand advanced-learning opportunities for a growing number of students is to be commended.  Our students and staff are performing at a very high level, and we could not be more proud of them,” said Vessey.

Mark DiStefano, Principal of Beaver Dam High School stated; “Our students and families understand and appreciate the benefit that rigorous opportunities have on the educational experience as a whole.  Whether it be AP courses in core curricular areas or capstone courses in Career and Technical Education, our students are working hard to stretch themselves and our performance as a school reflects that.”

Beaver Dam School District’s inclusion on the College Board’s AP School District Honor Roll joins a growing list of accomplishments for Beaver Dam Schools.  Earlier this year, Beaver Dam High School was recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best high schools in the nation, in 2014, Beaver Dam High School was identified as an AP Pacesetter School in the State of Wisconsin, and most recently, Beaver Dam students scored the highest recorded average ACT score the school has seen in recent history at 23.4.

Beaver Dam Schools will continue to strive every day to guide students and  empower their futures by leading the way in student growth and achievement.