VICTORIA, BC, Sept. 7, 2012 /CNW/ - St. Michaels University School (SMUS) has been ranked the number-one school in Canada for "equity and excellence" in the College Board's Advanced Placement® (AP) program. The AP program offers high school students college-level courses and examinations, providing credits and placement in courses with pre-requisites at many post-secondary institutions.
SMUS ranked first among nearly 600 Canadian schools in the "equity and excellence" category, which measures both student access to the AP program and the exam results they achieve. Worldwide, SMUS ranks in the top 60 of 18,000 schools that offer the Advanced Placement program. The rankings are made by the College Board, the not-for-profit organization that administers the AP program with schools, colleges and universities.
"We are extraordinarily proud of the 'equity and excellence' ranking not only because it reflects another impressive performance by our students, but also because it shows we are achieving our goal of encouraging as many students as possible to participate in the AP program," said SMUS Head of School Bob Snowden. "Every year more than 200 of our students challenge themselves with AP courses and exams. That is phenomenal for a school our size and this ranking confirms that SMUS is by far the leading AP program among Canadian schools."
"SMUS pioneered AP in Canada as the first Canadian school to offer the program in 1978, and we have found that the AP program is the best possible fit for our academic focus," said Snowden. "It offers students flexibility and choice in creating a program of study that reflects their passions, and it's widely accepted in colleges and universities across North America as well as internationally. Because we expect all of our students to apply to universities both within and outside of Canada, we have made it an academic priority to have a strong AP program."
SMUS is the second largest AP school in Canada in terms of the number of exams taken. In the last school year, 133 out of 136 students in the graduating class took at least one AP exam. In addition, 98 SMUS students achieved "AP Scholar" status including 24 National AP Scholars, the most prestigious title awarded by the College Board to Canadian students. SMUS offers 27 Advanced Placement courses, including Human Geography, Psychology, Microeconomics/Macroeconomics, Calculus and Chemistry.
"The success of our students in the AP program is a tribute to their talent and hard work, and confirms the value of integrating the AP program into our overall academic approach," said Snowden. "Encouraging and enabling our students to set their sights high and seek advanced placement in colleges and universities is part of our commitment to seek the excellence in all of us and provide outstanding preparation for higher learning and for life."
Image with caption: "St. Michaels University School (SMUS) (CNW Group/St. Michaels University School (SMUS))". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20120907_C4901_PHOTO_EN_17572.jpg
SOURCE: St. Michaels University School (SMUS)
Media contact:
Laura Authier
250-370-6164
250-888-5950 (cell)
[email protected]
www.smus.ca
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