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Rosemead High spotlights AP gains and lays out plan to boost Hispanic-Latinx participation
Summary
Rosemead High School told the El Monte Union board that AP scores and exam-taking have risen — including a College Board honor-roll 'gold' metric — but leaders said Hispanic-Latinx students remain underrepresented and outlined AVID, registration fairs, PSAT and mentorship steps to close the gap.
Janine Salanichio, Rosemead High School principal, told the El Monte Union High School District Board of Trustees on May 21 that the school has increased both AP exam participation and the percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher, and that the site has earned higher College Board honor-roll recognition. "We have now entered into the gold," Salanichio said, explaining the three metrics that determine honor-roll status and noting the school met the college-credit and college-optimization thresholds.
Salanichio and AP teachers framed the issue as two-sided: celebration of strong outcomes — the presentation cited roughly 74% of students scoring 3 or higher on AP exams in 2024 — and a persistent participation gap between Asian American students and Hispanic-Latinx students. "This is not acceptable," Salanichio said of the disparity, adding the school will continue working at the site and district levels to align AP enrollment with the school's 50/50 Hispanic-Asian enrollment. AP teacher Michelle Ban described teacher-led data work, collaboration and AP boot camps; Ban said AP classroom resources and an AP registration fair helped demystify courses for students who worry about workload.
Rosemead staff described specific interventions: expanding AVID to target AVID students so at least one AP course is completed before graduation, using an AP inventory to track student language proficiency and exam scores, offering PSAT data to identify AP potential and hosting registration fairs and link-crew outreach to engage freshmen. An AVID coordinator explained the goal to have 60–65% of AVID students (many Latino) take an AP course before graduation and to monitor progress using an AP–AVID inventory form.
Student testimony underlined the program's promise. Aura Gallardo Muñoz, a senior and AVID alum, described AVID's role beginning in middle school and urged peers "to step out of your comfort zone" and try AP classes. The board asked staff to provide a demographics breakdown and year-to-year AP pass-rate metrics in a Friday memo and requested a follow-up update next year to track progress.
Why it matters: The presentation links classroom interventions to district equity goals and sets measurable targets — expanding AP access is framed as both a student-opportunity and a college-readiness strategy.
