FONTANA, CA – Four Fontana Unified high schools were recognized by the College Board as Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Roll schools, highlighting the District’s commitment to fostering a college-going culture across its campuses and providing opportunities for students to earn college credit and maximize college readiness, based on data compiled from the schools’ Class of 2023 graduates.

Summit High School earned a Silver Award, while Fontana, A.B Miller and Henry J. Kaiser high schools were honored with Bronze Awards. Summit, Fontana and Kaiser also earned the AP Access Award, which recognizes the schools for providing underrepresented students access to advanced coursework.

“Being recognized by the College Board is a tremendous achievement for our schools and is a reflection of the hard work being done in every school, districtwide, to present equitable learning opportunities for all students,” Fontana Unified Superintendent Miki R. Inbody said. “Each of our school sites is putting in so much work to ensure our students are fully prepared for college.”

The College Board places schools on its Honor Roll after evaluating three separate data sets representing college culture (students taking at least one AP exam), college credit (students scoring a “3” or higher on an AP exam) and college optimization (students taking five or more AP exams).

Of the three Honor Roll data sets, Fontana Unified schools scored the most impressive marks in college optimization, with Summit earning platinum status, Kaiser gold, A.B. Miller silver and Fontana High bronze.

“Being on the College Board Honor Roll is a recognition of our school’s dedication to educational excellence,” Summit Principal Renee Castanon said. “It speaks to our commitment to fostering a learning environment where students thrive academically, and a reflection of the collective passion and hard work of our educators, students and community towards preparing students for future success.”

Summit and Kaiser both offer the rigorous AP Capstone program, a two-year commitment comprising AP seminar and AP research courses. For the 2023-24 school year, Kaiser introduced two new AP courses: AP Computer Science Principles and AP Music Theory.

“We are proud of our efforts to increase college and career readiness for all students, by providing a rigorous academic experience that includes a diverse range of challenging courses, as well as enabling students to be successful,” Kaiser Principal Chris Hollister said. “Collaborative efforts from our AVID (Advanced Via Individual Determination) and AP programs, as well as college and career and GATE (Gifted & Talented Education) coordinators ensure our programs remain viable and enriching.”

A.B. Miller offers a robust selection of AP courses and strives to provide an AP course for every student.

“We are excited to be recognized by the College Board for inclusion on the AP Honor Roll,” A.B. Miller Principal Dr. Barbara Kelley said. “We have worked over the last two years to grow the options our students have within the AP program and are constantly encouraging our students to participate in at least one AP course.”

Fontana High came within percentage points of receiving silver designations in college culture and college credit and is determined to push those numbers up through the assistance of its academic counselors, AVID teachers and college and career leads.

“Being placed on the AP Honor Roll helps validate the hard work our counseling team puts in with building students’ four-year plans, as well as our AP teachers in being high-quality instructors delivering rigor and preparing our Steelers for their respective exams,” Fontana High Principal Ofelia Hinojosa said. “At FOHI, we are dedicated to improving our college-and-career indicator and this helps showcase that work.”

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

FUSD_APHONORS1: Summit High School was recognized by the College Board with an Advanced Placement Honor Roll Silver Award, along with the AP Access Award, for its commitment to increasing a college-going culture on campus.

FUSD_APHONORS2: The College Board recognized Henry J. Kaiser High School with an Advanced Placement Honor Roll Bronze Award, as well as the AP Access Award, for increasing college-going culture throughout campus.