Advanced Placement Incentive Program
A three-year Department of Education Advanced Placement Incentive Program (APIP) grant was awarded to the School District of Palm Beach County in October of 2008 with the express purpose of expanding access for low-income and underrepresented students to Advanced Placement® (AP) programs by developing, enhancing and expanding such programs within schools that have a high concentration of low-income and/or racial/ethnic minority students. A key aim of the program is to create a culture within the five participating APIP schools that supports and promotes increased student participation and success in Advanced Placement courses. The participating schools are Boynton Beach High School, Glades Central High School, Lake Worth High School, Palm Beach Lakes High School, and Santaluces High School. This is being accomplished through professional development for teachers and counselors, student identification and recruiting, focused academic support through tutorials and enrichment programs, increased resources, curriculum and materials, as well as efficacy training for parents, teachers and students.
Curriculum
Advanced Placement® (AP) courses provide a unique learning experience that promotes college readiness. AP courses are college-level courses and exams provided in high schools for which students can earn college credit and advanced placement, helping them to stand out in the admissions process. AP courses are available in over 30 subjects including art, computer science, history and social sciences, mathematics, sciences, English language and literature, and world languages.
Advanced Placement coursework is challenging, however any student who is motivated and interested may take an AP course. As a District policy, students who register and take an AP course, must also take the AP exam to successfully complete the course. Advanced Placement courses are increasing in popularity and importance as they play a significant role in the new high school accountability requirements for Florida high schools.
As schools expand Advanced Placement programs, rigor in prerequisite courses at earlier grade levels helps to prepare students for the demands of AP coursework. SpringBoard® is a rigorous, highly engaging, student-centered, interactive and standards-based curriculum designed by teachers for teacher under the auspices of the College Board. SpringBoard® is the College Board’s official Pre-AP program, with curriculum available in English Language Arts and Mathematics. The SpringBoard® research-based curriculum provides students with 21st century skills and prepares them for Advanced Placement and college-level coursework. Currently, SpringBoard® English Language Arts courses are available in 21 schools in Palm Beach County.
Community Partners
The Advanced Placement Incentive Program is also making efforts to partner with local colleges, universities and community organizations to develop a network of support for traditionally underrepresented students. Florida Atlantic University and Palm Beach Community College both offer TRIO and Upward Bound programs that seek to provide additional tutoring, academic support, counseling and financial assistance for low-income Palm Beach County students who exhibit potential.
Another strong community partnership is with the Johnson Scholars Program, whereby four-year scholarships of $2500 per year for a total of $10,000 per student will be awarded annually to one student at each of five area high schools (Lake Worth High School, Palm Beach Gardens High School, Palm Beach Lakes High School, Santaluces High School, and Wm. T. Dwyer High School). This represents a commitment of $1.6 million between 2008 and 2015 by the Johnson Scholarship Foundation. Groups of students at the five schools are put into special cohorts and must remain on track in those cohorts in order to compete for the scholarships.
Student Support
Part of the support provided for the Johnson Scholars schools, as well as for APIP schools, is participation in College Success Program. In College Success classes, ninth and tenth graders learn college success skills to help them begin planning and preparing for academic success both in high school and beyond. This year, training was provided to begin using the Realizing the College Dream curriculum in College Success classes to help students learn how to achieve their future goals. This curriculum complements the Student Success Skills curriculum currently used by school counselors District-wide. Student Success Skills is a prominent resource in the District’s Student Development Plan, and is designed to help students develop critically important cognitive, social, and self-management skills.
A unique aspect of the College Success program is the inclusion of First Generation Mentors. Local college students, who are first generation college-goers themselves, are working to mentor high school students. The mentors deliver the message that anyone who wants to can go to college by sharing their own stories of success in overcoming barriers. Additionally, they provide college success strategies and lessons to students to help them develop study skills.
Extended Learning Opportunities
Extended learning opportunities are an integral part of Florida’s Continuous Improvement Model and a requirement for schools in the Differentiated Accountability categories of Correct II and Intervene. The Department of Curriculum Development and School Improvement along with Safe Schools and Career Education have collaboratively organized extended learning opportunities that address various programs for students by assisting schools with implementing required tutorials.
As a part of this effort, Advanced Placement tutorial curricula have been developed and made available for schools to provide extended learning opportunities beyond the school day. The Department of Safe Schools is coordinating the development of a series of tutorial lessons for Advanced Placement student support. These lessons were developed for courses where the District has high enrollment but where passing rates could be improved. The lessons focus on the content, skills, and strategies that are aligned to the following Advanced Placement courses: U.S. History, Environmental Science, Biology, English Language & Composition, U.S. Government & Politics, Calculus AB and English Literature & Composition. Development of lessons for the following courses is pending: World History, Human Geography, and Statistics.
Additionally, a Summer Enrichment Program has been established to provide enrichment and support for identified students from APIP schools. The students are recruited and selected by teachers and counselors to participate in the program. The program is centered around a team-taught Engineering curriculum that integrates math, science, reading, writing and critical thinking skills. Students also participate in a computer lab rotation that gives them access to college readiness websites and activities.
Teacher Support
In order to support Advanced Placement teachers, a District-wide collaborative effort has been made to establish Advanced Placement Roundtables and an AP Online Forum. The AP Roundtables and the AP Online Forum give Advanced Placement teachers in all subject areas an opportunity to meet, both virtually and face-to-face, in order to share best practices, to seek and offer advice, and to discuss strategies as well as share materials and resources.
Research has shown that peer mentoring is an extremely effective method of professional development and we hope these AP Roundtables and the AP Online Forum will provide both a valuable experience and a unique format for AP teachers to work together and support each other. Because the AP Roundtables have the potential to be such a vital professional development venue, they have been added as a topic on the Late Start/PDD menu. Each subject area group has scheduled meeting dates and locations as well as several district-wide events held on Professional Development Days.
Teachers may also access the AP Online Forum at any time to communicate and share syllabi, resources, documents and useful internet sites. Access may be requested by signing in to the site using the individual’s district email address and the individual’s usual password used for other district sites such as email and Course Registration.
Professional Development
Additionally, professional development opportunities are provided each year through College Board consultants. Teacher training is also a vital component of sustaining your program and ensuring both teacher and student success. The Department of Safe Schools collaborates with the Department of Curriculum Development and School Improvement to select AP, Pre-AP and Vertical Team workshop topics for teacher training. The workshops are held at the Safe Schools Institute and are one-day seminars.
Additionally, many teachers have been given stipends to attend Advanced Placement Summer Institutes. These are four-day intensive subject-area workshops led by College Board approved workshop leaders. The workshops focus on strategies for adequately preparing students for the Advanced Placement exam.
For the 2009-2010 school year, the District has worked closely with the College Board to provide an Advanced Placement® Achievement Institute (APAI). The purpose of the Achievement Institute is to assist educators in meeting the increasing demands that academically diverse AP students pose for teachers and administrators. It is designed to support schools committed to preserving open access to AP by identifying strategies (for both administrators and teachers) to overcome potential barriers to the success of students who may have been under-prepared for the rigorous expectations of an AP course.
During the four days of the Institute, teachers learned strategies for differentiating instruction without sacrificing rigorous expectations. Administrators learned strategies for strengthening their schools’ AP programs by building departmental ownership of a pipeline of courses built on rigorous expectations and vertically aligned curriculum. Additionally, administrators learned strategies for creating gateway courses that are intentionally designed to introduce students to the AP experience. The Administrator Component also included a toolkit with an overview of AP course content and an observation instrument for assessing rigor in order to support teachers and students as they seek to improve performance in AP classes. The Institute is capped off with four follow-up visits where the College Board consultants visit schools and meet with teachers and administrators to discuss successes and challenges in implementing the strategies learned during the four-day APAI training.
Contact Information
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Nancy ReeseAssistant Director, Single School Culture © for CLIMATE
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Becky YoungmanManager, Advanced Placement Incentive Program
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