Developing an Advanced Placement Program a Small, Rural School
Kimberly McCluskey, Scotland County R-1
Wednesday, August 1, 11:00-11:30, SUB Room 233, Theme: Students
Scotland County R-1 (SCR-1), with a high school enrollment of under 200 students, is located in rural Missouri, hours from the closest metropolitan area. As part of our commitment to high quality education, an Advanced Placement program was implemented during the 2014-15 academic year. This session will walk through the process of developing a successful AP program through the use of professional learning communities and extensive collaboration. Small, rural schools face many challenges in developing AP programs and ways to overcome many of these in order to develop a true AP culture within the district will be shared. Various methods of collecting data to track the growth and success of the program will be discussed. In three short years, SCR-1 has improved from a 0% pass rate on the AP exams to a 40% pass rate in 2017, with growth expected in 2018 as well. The number of AP courses offered has increased from two to seven scheduled for the 2018-19 academic year. In 2017, the College Board reported that 33% of graduating public high school students had taken an AP exam; however, SCR-1 surpassed this at 46.3% for our class of 2017. The College Board also reported 11.4% of Missouri public high school students passed an AP exam, but SCR-1 exceeded this as well at 19.5%. Data from the 2018 AP exam cycle will also be shared. This presentation will highlight the strategies utilized by SCR-1 to facilitate the growth and development of a successful AP program.