District 88 teachers and administrators attend conference on Advanced Placement/college-level coursework

On May 20, District 88 teachers and administrators attended the Chicagoland AP Consortium Reflection and Renewal Conference at Westmont High School.

The keynote speaker was journalist Jay Mathews. Mathews has had a huge impact on secondary education and Advanced Placement (AP)/college-level coursework in the U.S. His book “Escalante” was turned into the movie "Stand and Deliver." The book puts a spotlight on opening the doors to AP for many students throughout the nation. Mathews also spent three years in U.S. high schools writing "Class Struggle: What is Right and Wrong with America's Best High Schools."

Since then, Mathews created the Challenge Index that was adopted by Newsweek and the Washington Post, and his ranking helped fuel the expansion of AP nationwide.

This year, Willowbrook and Addison Trail were once again named as Top Schools in America by the Washington Post and as America’s Best High Schools by Newsweek. This is the fifth consecutive year Addison Trail has received those honors, and it’s the sixth consecutive year for Willowbrook.

Only 52 of the 672 high schools in Illinois made the Washington Post list. The Washington Post ranks “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” based on the number of college-level/Advanced Placement (AP) exams given in 2012, divided by the number of graduates that year. Also noted are the percentage of students who come from families that qualify for lunch subsidies and the percentage of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career. For more information, go to http://tinyurl.com/caax2b2.

According to Newsweek’s website, their list of America’s Best High Schools consists of the “(schools) that best prepare students for college.” The methodology for their list has “stayed true to factors that have been proven to be the best indicators of college readiness – graduation rates, participation in college-level classes through AP and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs and acceptance into a two- or four-year college program.” For more information, go to http://tinyurl.com/cobw2rj.