By Emme Hembree, student writer/journalist, Yorktown High School—
Yorktown, IN—Yorktown High School ranked #23 as one of Indiana’s best high schools, according to US News & World Report. To Yorktown Community Schools superintendent Greg Hinshaw, one of Yorktown’s biggest strengths is the advanced placement (AP) course turnout. “The reality is, AP tends to score higher on a measure of school-wide effectiveness in high schools just like ours. We are working on creating a college transfer core out of our 27 AP and dual credit classes to transfer as a unit to any state public school.” AP classes are part of College Board, which can help students earn college credit and save on college tuition. Dual credit courses accepted by a post-secondary school means that the student has already completed that college level course for credit, and won’t have to take that course in college.
Principal Stacey Brewer is excited for the possibilities of academics to continue to grow in future years at Yorktown High School. “Given our school’s continued efforts to assess our strengths and areas of improvement, I would like to believe we will remain among the top schools in the state and the nation.” According to US News & World Report, of all students eligible to take an AP class, about 70% of students are enrolled in at least one AP course at Yorktown High School, a much higher rate than many other schools in the area. Yorktown High School also has a graduation rate of 98%, which is 9% higher than Burris, another high-ranking school within Delaware County, with an 89% graduation rate.
According to US News & World Report, Yorktown High School was ranked #15 in the state for college readiness, due to AP courses offered, block scheduling, and study release. “AP courses are the ‘gold standard’ nationally and in some cases internationally. The level of rigor and accountability associated with AP courses is second to none. This high level of rigor is demonstrated by a College Board approved curriculum, and ultimately a national normed exam. In contrast, dual credit is only as rigorous as the authorizing agency requires it to be. We are proud of our recent partnership with IU Bloomington as our primary dual credit authorizer in our attempt to provide courses in areas that we do not have an AP option,”Brewer explains. The block scheduling at Yorktown High School is similar to the scheduling that colleges have in place, so the students are already prepared for that when they take the next step in their education.
“I think that our (Yorktown High School’s) AP options really help our students prepare for college. AP students learn how to manage their time and take the AP tests at the end of the year. It’s a great way to get our students ready for the next step,” said Mike Larrabee, AP Government teacher at YHS.
Even through a pandemic, Yorktown High School’s students and teachers have prevailed, and achieved a high honor of being ranked #23 in the state.“My philosophy as an educator is that your high school should offer youas broad a continuum of courses to choose from as you can reasonably afford to offer,” Hinshaw said. “It is an honor that Yorktown wins almost every year. We want to point out that this is an accomplishment that is not easy to obtain.”
