Hoosier Students Named State AP Scholars (DOE, 10/25/07) - (The two schools mentioned in this article appear in the above table.)

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2008 AP Performance For Indiana Schools; Of 10 Caston Exams None Received A Score Of At Least "3" (1/5/09) - A listing of the spring 2008 AP exam results for Indiana schools will be found here. Beginning on the left of the list you will find the school id #, next the corporation id #, next the total # of exams administered, next the # of pupils taking one or more exams, next the percent of 11th and 12th graders that took at least one exam, next and last the # of exams with a score of at least "3," followed by the name of the school.

Caston Jr.-Sr. High School is #2159. You will notice that a total of 10 exams were taken by 7 different students. Also, 6% of the 11th and 12th graders took at least one exam and of the 10 exams taken none received a score of "3" or higher.

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RHS Principal Explains About Advanced Placement And Dual-College Credit Courses (retitled, Rochester Sentinel, 3/16/09)
(The following was originally published March 13, 2009 by The Rochester Sentinel in its print edition, however, not on its website. Appreciation is extented to the Sentinel for making it available to this website.)

By DAN RONK Principal, 
Rochester High School

Schools are working hard to offer challenging classes that meet the state requirements of Academic Honors diplomas. Advanced Placement or Dual-College Credit are two options that schools can choose from. The two programs have some common characteristics and some differences. Hopefully, after reading this you will have more information to decide which is best for your child.

Advanced Placement classes last for two semesters and are taught by high school staff trained by the College Board. AP courses require students to take a national exam that is only offered on a certain date, usually in May.

A student will receive a score on that exam ranging from 1-5. Colleges may award college credit if a student achieves a 5 on the AP exam. Getting a 5 on an AP exam is a tremendous accomplishment. Some colleges, for example Purdue, do not accept AP results and require that students take a placement test created by the college. Some colleges and scholarship programs may require a student to take AP courses and exams. The state pays for some AP tests, but not all. A student may be charged $60-$80 to take an exam.

Dual-College Credit classes are much more varied because they are not governed by a single organization like the College Board. DCC classes could be taught by high school staff trained by the university, university staff using technology for an online course, or by university staff that come to the high school to teach. DCC classes may last 10 weeks, 10 months, or run on the same schedule as the college. Students must apply and be accepted by the university to take a DCC class. Students or parents must pay for DCC classes. Grades are figured more like a traditional high school class following the college curriculum. The grade given for the class is the grade that appears on the college transcript. Indiana colleges have created a Core Transfer Library that describes the courses that can be transferred between colleges in Indiana. Private colleges and out-of-state colleges do not have to accept these DCC courses. It is always critical to ask the college you plan to attend if they would accept a DCC transfer credit.

AP and DCC have some characteristics in common. Both are intended to be rigorous and challenge students. Both programs teach students time management skills, the importance of a work ethic, as well as self-discipline. Both programs will often require a level and quantity of reading well above a typical high school class. Some classes can actually be both AP and DCC. The calculus class at Rochester can be taken for either AP or DCC credit. Any student is eligible to take an AP exam even if the student does not take the AP class.

The advantage of taking AP classes is that many out-of-state colleges will accept the results of the AP exams. Also, good young teachers who may qualify for teaching a DCC class can be trained by the College Board to teach AP. AP results are uniform in that all students are taking the same test nationwide. AP classes are no cost or low cost depending on the textbooks involved.

DCC classes offer greater flexibility. Rochester offered over 30 choices to students this school year. Ball State, Purdue, IU, and Ivy Tech classes are all available. While families have to pay to take these classes, the cost of taking them while still in high school is one-third the cost of taking the same class in college. If a high school student is on the free/reduced lunch program, the tuition for the DCC class is waived. Students must apply to the college to take the DCC classes, which is often an “eye opening” experience for high school students in that they learn they have not worked hard enough or taken the challenging classes necessary to gain admission into college. DCC classes are more “real world”. This is very much like the college experience – lectures, quizzes, tests, final exam, etc. Taking an online DCC class is great preparation for future educational experiences.

Both AP and DCC classes are great preparation for high school students. Researchers are arguing about the benefits, but older studies have suggested that college grade point averages, hours earned, and the likelihood of graduating on time all improve with AP and DCC classes taken in high school. One other piece of research also suggests that if a student comes from a family that has no college experience, AP and DCC classes provide a confidence and comfort that this “first generation college student” can succeed in college. With the new economic reality that exists in 2009, Rochester High School believes the greatest value rests with the DCC classes. We believe the students will get the knowledge, experience, and rigor that they need for college, and parents have the potential to save a great deal of money. The most important factor to consider is that regardless of AP or DCC, the individual student success will depend on the knowledge, skills, and expectations that the instructor brings to an AP or DCC class. Expect the most from your children and they will not disappoint you.

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2009 Caston Advanced Placement (AP) Exam Results Continue To Be Disappointing (10/26/09)

During last school year Caston conducted four Advanced Placement classes: Biology, Calculus, Chemistry and English/Literature. Background information about AP classes and exam scoring will be found here.

The Indiana Department of Education has not yet publicly released participation and exam results for schools throughout the state. However, at Caston a total of 32 exams for the four classes were taken. Of these...
24 were scored a "1",
  7 were scored a "2", and
  1 was scored a "3".

Only the one exam scored a "3" would generally be considered to be qualified to receive college credit and/or placement into advanced courses. 

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More Indiana High School Students Taking Advanced Classes--Passing Them (IED, 2/11/10) - "A growing number of Indiana high school students took Advanced Placement exams last year, but unlike a national trend, the percentage of those who passed the tests remained relatively the same. More than 13,000 Indiana public school students graduating in 2009 sat for at least one AP exam during high school, up about 5 percent from the previous year's class. Out of those students about half, or 50.3 percent, earned a passing grade of 3 or higher on the rigorous college-level exams (see Caston results)...Representatives from College Board, which administers AP tests, released the new data on Wednesday..." (more)

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