HISD honors West Briar, Westside for AP testing improvement

Westside High School AP Chemistry mentor Ardelia Ford accepts congratulations from Board of Education member Greg Meyers.

Houston Independent School District recognized several high schools and
middle schools this weekend for improvements in Advanced Placement test
scores and improvement.

"These schools have basically shown the most improvement from the '08-'09
school year to the '09-'10 school year, in terms of participation and
performance," says Esti Arriagia, Advanced Placement and International
Baccalaureate School Improvement officer for HISD.

At this weekend's annual "AP Celebration Saturday," at High School for the
Performing and Visual Arts, HISD granted "Guiding Star Awards" to schools in
two basic categories: Those whose test results improved most, and those
whose participation in the tests improved most. College Board Vice President
Trevor Packer used the event to remind people that AP classes are "not for
the elite [but] for the prepared."

Bellaire High, DeBakey, Waltrip, and West Briar Middle were all recognized
for performance improvements.

Burbank, Eastwood, Jordan, and Westside were honored for improved
participation.

The district says the number of AP exams in 2010 jumped 43 percent from the
previous year, to 16,556. It says that the number of students scoring 3 or
higher on the exams increased 27 percent, to 6,262.

HISD also says it is expanding its AP classes, and that by next fall, each
of its high schools will offer at least 15 AP courses.