| The national College Board's 2007Advanced | | | | achievers in eliminating equity gaps of Latino |
| Placement Report to the Nation brought good | | | | students. This means that the percentage of |
| news to Florida Schools. Findings from the | | | | Latino students represented in Florida Schools has |
| organization reported overall improvements for | | | | increased in relation to their overall percentage of |
| high schools students achieving high rated | | | | attendance. According to College Board President |
| Advanced Placement test scores. Nationally, | | | | Gaston Caperton, "Florida is one state that has |
| 14.8% of students taking Advanced Placement | | | | dramatically expanded AP participation and |
| (AP) exams scored a 3 or higher in 2006, up | | | | improved performance among Latino students. In |
| 14.1% from 2005. | | | | Florida, the percentage of AP students who are |
| Educators in the Florida Schools viewed this report | | | | Latino actually exceeds the percentage of |
| with interest for a couple of reasons. First of all, | | | | students that are Latino in the population." |
| Florida Schools are interested in the accompanying | | | | State funding is used to give Florida Schools |
| study that reports a strong correlation between | | | | professional teacher development. And the Florida |
| students who take AP courses in high school and | | | | Schools use PSAT/NSMQT scores to identify |
| experience academic success in college. Secondly, | | | | potentially successful AP students. Finally, Florida |
| Florida Schools ranked well in most areas of the | | | | Schools awards educators for high student |
| report. | | | | achievement on the AP exams. |
| Florida Schools ranked 7th in the nation for states | | | | Along with California, New York, and Texas, the |
| with the largest percentage of seniors scoring a 3 | | | | Florida Schools have more schools cited in the |
| or better on their AP exams. 19.8% of AP | | | | report than any other states. Cypress Bay High |
| students in the Florida Schools achieved this goal. | | | | School in Weston, Florida and Thomas Jefferson |
| Top scorer New York State had 22.7% of its AP | | | | High School for Science and Technology in |
| students in this upper echelon. | | | | Alexandria, Virginia received the most mentions of |
| Florida Schools also were in the top five states to | | | | all high schools in the nation. Despite on-going |
| show the most improvement in AP scores | | | | challenges to meet the needs of a state full of |
| between 2000 and 2006. Finally, the College Board | | | | diversity and challenges, Florida Schools are clearly |
| recognized Florida Schools as one of the top | | | | making strides towards their goals. |