West Ranch High School Principal Robert Fisher praised the large number of Advanced Placement exams taken by his students, among some other accomplishments, at last week’s William S. Hart Union High School District governing board meeting.
According to Fisher, there were 1,991 AP exams taken by West Ranch students this past school year, and 1,625 of those received passing grades, a rate of 81.62%.
The school received the AP Access Award by the College Board, the organization that administers the AP exams, for its efforts to provide underrepresented students with access to the exams.
“This is the biggest thing that I have on there for you,” Fisher said. “This is amazing.”
Fisher was also proud to say that the pass rate was 3% higher than before while there were also nearly 300 more tests taken.
“As a result, we are celebrating right now by just being selected as an AP Honor Roll school, receiving the highest honors as a platinum school,” Fisher said.
He went on to point out a student who took and passed an AP exam for a class without even taking that class.
“Students do amazing work,” Fisher said. “They put their mind to something, and they will not be denied until they achieve what they want to achieve. So, it’s a testament to what they do.”
On top of top-notch AP exam scores, Fisher acknowledged that the student body as a whole is doing well in state testing. In English, 86% of students at least met the state standard, while 57% did so in math and 61% in science, all well above the average for the Hart district and miles ahead of the state and L.A. County.
West Ranch’s numbers are listed as “very high” on the California School Dashboard.
But Fisher isn’t resting easy with those numbers. He used a quote from Super Bowl-winning coach Vince Lombardi to explain how he wants to continue to pursue excellence in the school’s 20th year of existence and his third year in charge.
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence,” Fisher said in homage to Lombardi.
The biggest challenge to that, Fisher said, is a decrease in staffing.
“But our instructional support staff, our instructional assistants, we strategically place them throughout the master schedule in the areas of greatest need to provide targeted support for our students in those classes,” Fisher said. “So, you know, staffing is always something that is a resource, investing in our people. Our staff does amazing job supporting students, and so I think that’s really the area that I see the greatest need at West Ranch.”