CARSON CITY Nev. - The Elko County School District is one of 250 school districts in the United States and Canada being honored by the College Board with placement on the 10th Annual AP® District Honor Roll.

“The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) is committed to removing barriers and increasing access to advanced coursework for all students across Nevada,” said Jhone Ebert, Superintendent of Public Instruction.
“What has been accomplished in Elko is a model for other Nevada districts.”

To be included on the 10th Annual Honor Roll, the Elko County School District had to, since 2017, increase the number of students participating in AP while also increasing or maintaining the percentage of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher. Reaching these goals shows that this district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are ready for AP.

"In the Elko County School District, our goal is to provide our students with rigorous and relevant course offerings," said Todd Pehrson, Elko County School District Superintendent. “Through the use of innovative technology, live interactive classes, and dedicated teachers, we have been able to reach more students across our rural district by providing access to AP courses in even our smallest schools. This approach has allowed us to increase not only participation in AP courses but we have also seen a significant increase to our successful completion rates, an increase that any school district would be proud of. We will continue to be innovative in our approach to higher level course offerings and to provide our students with opportunities to continue their academic success."

Elko has seen dramatic increases in both AP Exam participation and results in 2019:

• An increase of 54.78 percent in the number of AP Exams scored a 3 or higher since 2017;
• An increase of 21.93 percent of students who took at least one AP Exam since 2017;
• An increase of 43 percent of under-represented students who have enrolled for an AP Exam since 2017;
• Elko also had 19 students take AP Computer Science Principles, which was offered for the first time in 2019.

Overall, Nevada also demonstrated solid growth in AP Exam participation and growth in 2019:

• An increase of 6.32 percent in the number of AP Exams scored a 3 or higher since 2017;
• An increase of 1.59 percent of students who took at least one AP Exam since 2017;
• An increase of 6.5 percent of students who scored a 3 or better on at least one AP Exam since 2017.

NDE is committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and motivated students. NDE state grants have supported Nevada Learning Academy which allows students to access AP courses online. This has given more students outside Nevada’s urban centers access to a variety of courses that would not be available at their local schools. NDE also supports the College Board Silver State Summer Institute each year. This is a week-long training opportunity for teachers of AP courses to strengthen instruction, identify potential students and collaborate with AP teachers from across the State.

“With more students participating and succeeding in AP, more students are getting a head start on college by earning college credit during high school,” said Trevor Packer, senior vice president of AP and Instruction at the College Board.

The complete 10th Annual AP District Honor Roll can be found here: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/about-ap/awards/district-honor-roll