More than 50 high school students in the Renton School District have cause to celebrate.

They have all earned the designation of AP Scholar with Honors by The College Board, in recognition of their exceptional achievement in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and on the college-level AP exams.

Many of the students have since graduated and are learning of their success while they are in college, as the classes and tests were taken last school year. Some, however, took the test in their junior year and are now seniors at district high schools.

Only about 18 percent of the more than 1.9 million high school students worldwide who took AP exams performed at sufficiently high levels to merit the recognition of AP Scholar or AP Scholar with Honors. Students took AP Exams in May 2011 after completing challenging college-level courses at their high schools.

Those students who take AP classes in high school and score 3 or higher on the 5-point nationally-recognized AP tests are recognized as AP Scholars. Students that receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams, are designated AP Scholar with Honors.

The College Board’s AP Program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses in high school, and to receive college credit, advanced placement in college, or both, for successful performance on the AP Exams.

High Schools in the Renton School District offer many AP classes including AP biology, AP calculus, AP environmental science, AP English language, AP German, AP micro economics, AP macro economics, AP physics, AP statistics, AP US Government, AP US History and more.