South Putnam High School receives AP honors

Friday, June 10, 2016

Soon after its recognition as a Four-Star School by the Indiana Department of Education (DOE), The College Board has commended South Putnam High School and 51 other Indiana schools for graduating at least 25 percent of its students with a score of 3 or higher on Advanced Placement (AP) Exams.

State Rep. Jim Baird (left), R-Greencastle, joins South Putnam High School educators Tiffany Dickson, Principal Mike Schimpf and Theresa Doud at the 2016 College Board Advanced Placement Access and Success Recognition reception. South Putnam High School was honored at the Statehouse for achieving the 25 percent success rate for the graduating class of 2015.

According to the DOE, 29 percent of the South Putnam High School Class of 2016 graduated with a passing grade on AP exams. This recent percentage is the best South Putnam has ever earned as well as a significant increase from last year's 23 percent. In six years, South Putnam High School has gone from graduating 6 percent (2010) to 29 percent with AP college credit.

"AP classes provide students with rigorous coursework commensurate with that of college-level courses," Principal Mike Schmipf said. "Students and teachers work hours upon hours to achieve success in these classrooms."

AP teachers at South Putnam who have contributed to this achievement (are) Tiffany Dickson, Theresa Doud, Natalie Hodge, Bethany LeBlanc, Zachary Love and Brady Rhodes.

Teachers and administrators from the school attended a reception hosted by The College Board at the State House on Wednesday.

Among Putnam County Schools, North Putnam High School posted 14 percent, Cloverdale High School earned 11 percent and Greencastle High School had 16 percent.

Although South Putnam High School was the only school from Putnam County, other area schools that had 25 percent or better were Avon Community School Corporation, Plainfield High School, Speedway Senior High School and Terre Haute South Vigo High School.

A complete list of the 51 schools is available on the DOE website and Facebook page.

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