Fillmore Unified School District

Fillmore, California—Fillmore Unified School District is one of 477 school districts in the U.S. and Canada being honored by the College Board with placement on the 4th Annual AP® District Honor Roll for increasing access to AP® course work while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams. Reaching these goals indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are likely to benefit from rigorous AP course work. Since 2011, Fillmore Unified School District has increased the number of students participating in AP while also improving the percentage of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher.

In 2013, more than 3,300 colleges and universities around the world received AP scores for college credit, advanced placement and/or consideration in the admission process, with many colleges and universities in the United States offering credit in one or more subjects for qualifying AP scores.

“It is indeed both an honor and a privilege to be named one of 477 school districts in the United States and Canada selected for this most prestigious award. We congratulate our students, teachers, and administrators for their hard work and dedication as the District continues the arduous journey toward higher expectations and academic rigor. This award is just one more indicator that our students can and will succeed in the future as we continue to implement one of our mottos: ‘Student Success, Whatever It Takes’,” said Interim Superintendent Dr. Alan K. Nishino.

Data from 2013 show that among African American, Hispanic, and Native American students with a high degree of readiness for AP, only about half of students are participating because their schools do not always offer the AP course for which they have potential. Fillmore Unified School District is committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and motivated students of all backgrounds.

“We applaud the extraordinary efforts of the devoted teachers and administrators in this district who are offering more students the work,” said Trevor Packer, the College Board’s senior vice present of AP and Instruction. “These outcomes are a powerful testament to educators’ belief that a more diverse population of students is ready for the sort of rigor that will prepare them for success in college.”

Helping more students learn at a higher level and earn higher AP scores is an objective of all members of the AP community, from AP teachers to district and school administrators to college professors. Many districts are experimenting with a variety of initiatives and strategies to determine how to simultaneously expand access and improve student performance.

Inclusion on the 4th Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of AP data, from 2011 to 2013, for the following criteria:

Districts must:

Increase participation/access to AP by at least 4 percent in large districts, at least 6 percent in medium districts, and at least 11 percent in small districts; Increase or maintain the percentage of exams taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students, and; Improve performance levels when comparing the percentage of students in 2013 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2011, unless the district has already attained a performance level at which more than 70 percent of its AP students are scoring a 3 or higher.

When these outcomes have been achieved among an AP student population in which 30 percent or more are underrepresented minority students (Black, African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native) and/or 30 percent or more are low-income students (students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch), a symbol has been affixed to the district name to highlight this work.

About Fillmore Unified School District
The Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) is located in an agricultural area in eastern Ventura County with a population of approximately 3,825 students from transitional kindergarten through the twelfth grade. The District includes a comprehensive high school, a continuation high school, an independent study school, one middle school and four elementary schools. The District is approximately 90% Hispanic, 8% white and 2% mixed or other ethnicities. The free and reduced lunch count is 82%; English Language Learners 36%; Migrant students 4.8%; and special needs students 11.4%. Although FUSD is a relatively small unified school district, we have much to be proud of, such as, one of our continuation high school teachers being recently selected as the Ventura County Teacher of the Year and our notification by the California School Board Association that one of our school programs will be receiving the highly acclaimed Golden Bell Award this December. In addition, when last year’s Fillmore High School graduating class is compared to other Ventura County high schools, Fillmore has the highest percentage (71%) of students who applied to and were accepted at UC institutions, according to the University of Santa Barbara.