DHS named to AP Honor Roll
Posted on: Dec 6, 2019
When the College Board released its 10th annual AP Honor Roll on Thursday, Dec. 5, Delano High School stood alone as the only Minnesota school to qualify.
Only 250 schools in the United States and Canada earned the honor by simultaneously increasing access to AP courses and increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher (out of a possible 5).
“Honor roll districts defy the expectation that expanding access automatically results in a decline in the percentage of exams earning scores of 3 or better,” said Andy Houpt of the College Board.
2019 marks the fourth time in the last five years that Delano has qualified for the AP Honor Roll, a distinction that is particularly difficult to achieve as a result of the requirements to increase both participation and performance.
“This is just another example of the excellent work that our teachers, students and administrators do to maintain a high level of academic excellence in our high school,” said Delano Superintendent Matt Schoen. “To be the only high school in the state is quite an achievement. We continue to work hard on growing our college-level courses in the high school. The willingness of our students to challenge themselves in the classroom is an example of the strong support of our family community, along with the high level of expectations for our schools in Delano.”
Keys to success
DHS Principal Dr. Steve Heil said Delano’s inclusion on the honor roll is the result of several factors.
“We work really hard as a high school to increase the access of all of our students have to college level material and coursework while in high school,” he said. “It shows the hard work that our students do in the classroom, with homework and in taking the assessments. And it also shows the work the staff does with the students so the students are learning the material and remembering the material. The AP tests are so in depth you really have to learn the subject matter. You can’t just memorize it and then forget it.”
Heil said that Delano does not place any restrictions on taking an AP course, unlike some other districts. Students do not have to attain a certain grade point average, class rank or minimum level of performance in prior classes, for example.
“Our AP staff tells students, ‘If you want the challenge, please take the course.’ So you free the students up to think, ‘I can do this,’” said Heil. “Once you get to sophomore, junior, senior year, we really like the kids that want to challenge themselves to challenge themselves. The students know they’ve got a higher work load and they work hard at it. It turns out pretty well.”
Delano High School offers AP courses in biology, human geography, US government and politics, US history, and art. Heil said the expectation in those courses is that students are doing college-level coursework, but teachers also focus on imparting strategies students can use in note-taking, textbook reading and more to prepare them for post-secondary learning.
“AP is about teaching kids how to do a college-level class as much as it is learning college-level material,” Heil said. “That’s not always true in every school or class.”
• In addition to AP classes, Delano High School offers 10 College in the Schools courses, which also allow high school students to pursue college-level materials and credits, but are structured somewhat differently and do have a number of eligibility requirements.
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