Central, Roosevelt, Hoover Earn High Marks on Iowa AP Index
Both Hoover and Roosevelt have again made the list of the state’s top 50 high schools on the 2012 Iowa AP Index. The rankings are based on the number of AP exams taken by students and the number of graduates from the spring of 2011. The Iowa AP Index, compiled by the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education at the University of Iowa, ranks how Iowa high schools provide students with the opportunity to take high-level Advanced Placement courses.
Roosevelt is ranked sixth in the state, and has been among the top 50 high schools every year since it was created in 2005. Hoover is ranked 49th this year, making the list for the fourth time in the past five years.
In addition, Central Academy had far-and-away the highest index score of any school in Iowa. While “magnet schools,” such as Central, are not included in the formal rankings it was once again singled out for special mention by the Belin-Blank Center. Central’s index score of 7.62 was more than doubled the 3.08 rating of Cedar Rapids Washington, the high school with the next highest score, and is the highest score Central has ever received since the index began in 2005.
In a letter to Central Academy, Nicholas Colangelo, the director of the Belin-Blank Center, notes that the school’s “record of excellence with AP is an honor for the entire state of Iowa.”
Amber Graeber, the district’s Humanities Curriculum Director who is spearheading the dramatic rise in student enrollment in AP courses at each of the DMPS comprehensive high schools anticipates that it will be reflected in future state indices.
“The Des Moines Public Schools has aligned its Advanced Placement policies with the College Board’s Equity Policy Statement to ensure that all students have the opportunity to access this challenging, rigorous coursework. We’ll be excited to see how our expansion of Advanced Placement course work in the high schools will impact future data on the AP Index for all five of our high schools,” she stated.
Enrollment in Advanced Placement courses in Des Moines Public School has nearly doubled over the past year.
The 2012 Iowa AP Index can be found at http://www.iowaapindex.org/.
