Nine Kentucky public school districts join 530 other districts nationwide and in Canada on the third annual Advanced Placement® (AP) District Honor Roll.

The districts were honored for simultaneously increasing access to AP® course work while increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP exams. Achieving both of these goals is the ideal scenario for a district’s AP program because it indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are likely to benefit most from rigorous AP course work.

The nine Kentucky districts on the 2012 AP District Honor Roll are:

  • Ashland Independent
  • Boone County
  • Bourbon County
  • Clinton County (30 percent or more students qualify for free/reduced-price meals)
  • Fayette County
  • Oldham County (also honored in 2010 and 2011)
  • Pulaski County (30 percent or more students qualify for free/reduced-price meals)
  • Spencer County
  • Washington County

The Diocese of Covington also was placed on the 2012 AP District Honor Roll.

A total of 539 school districts across 44 of 50 states in the U. S. and six Canadian provinces achieved honor roll status. The state of Massachusetts was represented by the largest number of AP Honor Roll districts, with 46, followed by Michigan, with 39.

More than 90 percent of colleges and universities across the U.S. offer college credit, advanced placement or both for a score of 3 or higher on an AP exam — which can potentially save students and their families thousands of dollars in college tuition.

In 2012, 26,523 Kentucky public school students took more than 43,000 AP exams. More than 20,000 of those exams were scored at 3, 4 or 5.

Inclusion on the 3rd Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of AP data, from 2010 to 2012.