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Students go above and beyond

By: CBS4 News, newsroom@cbs4qc.com

Some Bettendorf High School students are being recognized for going above and beyond in the classroom.

For the third time, Bettendorf High School was ranked 13th in the state of Iowa.  That's out of the top 50 schools on the Iowa Advanced Placement or AP index.

"We've not only been fortunate in the number of students taking the ap classes, but also the number of students taking the exams," said Jimmy Casas, Bettendorf HS Principal.

Students at Bettendorf took more than 350 exams for the 2010-2011 school year.  In 2012, 56 students earned AP Scholar Designation for their achievement on the exams.  An achievement only about 18% of the nearly 17 million students worldwide, can say they have.

"One of the things we find about AP, they really are considered the gold standard for academics in schools, because it is the same curriculum taught all over the us and same assessment," said Costas.

The College Board AP Program Provides the opportunity to take college-level courses while still in high school and earn college credit for successful performance on the ap exams.

"It really distinguishes the kids that are saying, I want more, I want to go above and beyond and push myself," said Costas.

Bettendorf school leaders say they are proud of the students for being successful both in and out of the classroom, and for finding a good balance.

There's a lot of pride and tradition that comes with that and it really excites and energizes. We'll continue to encourage and support our kids to reach their full potential," said Costas.

Bettendorf High School will host an AP conference for people from all over on November 2. It's to help educators with continued AP training.