The Dalles High School saw a record number of students taking Advanced Placement (AP) tests, and a record number of students reaching AP Scholar status as juniors in the last school year.
Students achieve AP Scholar status if they get a score of 3 or better, on a scale of 1-5, on three or more AP tests. The class of 2018 had six students reach scholar status as juniors. The class of 2019 has 11 students who achieved the status as juniors.
AP classes are rigorous courses that can lead to college credit when students take the exam at the end of the year.
Graduated senior Peter Cardosi was an AP Scholar with Honors, meaning he passed at least four tests with a score of at least 3.25. Graduated seniors Maria Keilman and Bill Burns were AP Scholar with Distinction, meaning they averaged 3.5 or higher on five or more exams.
“This is really significant,” The Dalles High School Principal Kurt Evans said of the AP Scholar with Distinction designation. Only a small percentage of students in the country achieve it.
He said becoming an AP Scholar is “not just a local accomplishment.” Since the tests are nationally administered by the College Board, “they’re comparing themselves with the rest of the country.”
Graduated seniors who achieved AP Scholar status as juniors or seniors were Burns, Spencer Honald, Grace McLoughlin, Lisa Schatz, Victor Spitzer, Quinn Strassheim, Peter Cardosi, Keilman and Michael Parrish. Current seniors who have achieved AP Scholar status are Victoria Barragan, Leslie Blakely, Eleanor Codding, Aspen Cook, Matthew Feil, Michaela Haight, James Pashek, Devam Patel, Teddie Pitt, Axel Pothier and Jake Roetcisoender.
The current seniors who achieved AP Scholar status as juniors were asked about the significance of it for them. Barragan said, “I think it gives you a sense of pride for your own accomplishments.”
Pothier said, “It gives us bragging rights and also we’re challenging ourselves.”
Pashek said he liked that “it was based nationally so you have a nationwide comparison.”
The group added that it took critical thinking skills, determination, tears, some luck, and good study habits.
Last year, 223 students, representing 27 percent of the student body, took one or more AP classes. That means The Dalles “participates at a higher rate than the state,” Evans said, since the state average is 24 percent.
AP class enrollment also skews heavily female. Girls represent 63 percent of AP students at TDHS.
The number of Latino students in AP classes stood at 31 percent, which matches their representation in the whole student population.
“That’s one thing at the school that we’re proud of, is to encourage populations of students that have historically not been represented in advanced classes, so we’ve worked very hard to encourage and support some of these groups of students to take rigorous classes,” Evans said.
He learned at a recent conference that The Dalles is unique in having such a large percentage of Latino representation in AP courses.
The College Board said at the conference that, nationwide, AP students still tend to be white and middle class.
Evans said students who come from lower-income families, or kids who speak a second language at home, “those are some of the groups that we’ve really tried to target because that’s who is in high school.”
He said the AP courses are just one of many important programs at the school used to reach a student body with a wide variety of interests and skills. “We have different ways to plug students in, and AP is just one of them.”
The Dalles High School offers 12 AP classes in a two-year rotation. The school also offers 27 courses in its College Now program, in which the classroom work leads to college credit, and has boosted its CTE (Career and Technical Education) offerings.
More teachers than ever are teaching AP. For years, retired teacher Tim Zenker was one of the only AP teachers at the school. But in the last two years, nine teachers have taught at least one AP course.
AP teacher Mary Jo Commerford said Zenker “set the culture of having a robust AP program in a small rural community.”
“We have made a concerted effort that these courses are open to all students, if they’re willing to try,” Evans said. The first step is just to let them know they’re available, he said, and then to encourage them to enroll.
The school has found that students who take AP courses tend to complete college.
Commerford said she always asks college admissions directors who visit the high school what their impression is of the value of taking AP exams. “Frankly, to them it’s one of the best ways they can see the skill level of students applying for their college, because it’s a nationally based test.”
Commerford also lauded the school’s ASPIRE program, which pairs students with mentors who help them plan for post-high school education and training.
Another program called AVID helps middle level students aim higher, to meet more rigorous standards.
“The Dalles High School offers a clear college preparatory track with significant support,” Commerford said.
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