Participation For AP Classes At Upperman High School Has Grown

Advanced Placement class participation at Upperman High School has grown with about 200 final exams ordered for this school year.

But, that was not the case when Upperman High School Principal William Stepp first arrived five years ago. At the time, Upperman had one AP class in English with about 25 students.

Stepp said it was his goal to provide more.

“Those higher achieving students were doing dual enrollment and things like that, so they were getting some higher education experience, but I thought through the advanced placement curriculums that would be our focus and give them a lot more higher academics for them to prepare for their future,” Stepp said.

Upperman High School offers a wide range of AP classes that cover core subjects like calculus and biology. Stepp said the early post secondary learning opportunities allow students to earn college credits on completion.

“This can even transfer on to their career, not just the knowledge they are learning but can actual college credit can follow them,” Stepp said. “And, we have several students through dual enrollment and advanced placement end up with 20 maybe 30 college credits already.”

Stepp said the school even has a collection of teachers that work as an AP department to add new opportunities each year. While no new classes look to be coming next year, Stepp said they are always open to the possibility.

“We’re always looking at adding more early post secondary opportunities to our curriculum for all our schools,” Stepp said. “So, students can excel and be ready for either the workforce or higher education.”

However, the school did see a slight decrease in participation over this year. Stepp said he does not believe this was due to COVID and was a normal fluctuation.