By Charlotte Carter
In addition to being one of the last schools in Utah with a traditional bell schedule, Timpview High School was ranked first this week in performance on advanced placement tests.
The state of Utah is third in the nation with 20.8 percent of graduating seniors receiving a 3 or higher on an AP test, according to data released by the College Board earlier this month.
Timpview had more than 300 students take an AP test last year. The school had the highest percentage of students receiving a 3 or better in Utah, with 84 percent passing.
“We believe these classes prepare students for college,” said Monte Marshall, an advanced placement coordinator at Timpview. “They can even be more rigorous than comparative college courses because they have to cover such a wide variety of information.”
Because classes are to cover a wide variety of basics within each discipline, the College Board is requiring each teacher to submit a detailed syllabus, Marshall said.
The syllabus will then be used in order to determine if the course deserves the advanced placement name attached to it. Classes who don”t receive the approval will no longer be able to count starting next year.
“The auditing will make teachers teach at the college level,” Marshall said. “The College Board wants to make sure they have been through a good college course.”
Lone Peak High School offers 25 classes, giving students a wide range of classes to choose from.
“We want to expand upon the languages and give students more choices,” said Rod Campbell, and advanced placement coordinator at Lone Peak.
Campbell said Lone Peak does not have a specific track for students to get into advanced placement classes. If a student wants to be challenged and take a class more rigorous than a regular honors class, they can sign up for them individually.
The only classes a student must wait to take are classes that involve prior background knowledge, such as math and languages, he said.
“Our students are well prepared,” Campbell said. “We have a 70 percent pass rate with students receiving a 3 or better on the AP exams.”
Campbell said the rewards are individual because it”s the students who gain the staying power and strength to finish these difficult classes.
