Redlands Students Get to Jump Start Their Education

Students at Redlands East Valley High School are getting a head start on college by taking Advanced Placement Honors courses in their freshman through senior years.

The high school began offering AP courses to freshman, sophomores and juniors when it opened in 1997, said Assistant Principal Shad Kirkland. Seniors were added the following year.

REV offers 16 courses, which include core subjects such as English, Math and Science. But they also offer honors classes in U.S. Government and Politics, European History and foreign languages.

One of the benefits at REV is that any student can sign up for an AP or honors class.

“We do have an open door policy,” said Kirkland.

Two national organizations - The College Board and the Advanced Placement Program - ensure that courses are open to all students without discrimination.

Kirkland said that ninth graders take an honors prep course, then transition to AP European History in 10th grade. By 11th grade and their senior year, they’re taking the full AP courses in English, Statistics and U.S. History.

Kirkland and Assistant Principal Pat Carter said that it is up to the students as far as how hard they want to study and take courses that are very rigorous and demanding.

Kirkland said there are three factors that are considered when determining a student’s success rate with AP or honors classes – their past performance in a similar subject, their test scores and a teacher’s recommendation on a similar subject.

Some students really challenge themselves. “We’ve had 10th graders that have taken 12th grade calculus,” said Kirkland.

The AP Science class is considered pretty difficult, he said.

Most classes offered are built on student demand, said Kirkland. This year, an AP Environmental Sciences class was added.

Carter said there are several classes that are very popular with the students. “The history and the language courses are always packed,” she said.

There are normally 35 to 40 students per course. Exams are given in May and students must pass with a score of 3, 4 or 5.

Depending on the score, a year can be taken off any entry level courses when a student heads off to college.

According to the school’s website, the most students – 485 – took the most exams – 852 – with an overall pass rate of 60 percent in 2008.

Kirkland said it is really up to the students to determine how hard they want to work toward their college courses.

“If they take that AP honors course and they’re successful, everybody wins,” he said.