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Home > Features > AP Program Expansion: One State's Story
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AP Program Expansion: One State's Story
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by Kathleen C. , Plato
Advanced Placement Program® Supervisor
Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Olympia, Washington
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| | Three Schools, Three Expansion Strategies
"If we build it, they will come." That is the motto for the expansion of the Advanced Placement Program at Mt. View High School in the Evergreen School District in southwest Washington State. Borrowing from the baseball field analogy in the movie Field of Dreams, AP teacher/coordinator John Basich is the enthusiastic "AP Team Coach." "We strongly believe that if given the opportunity, a large percentage of our students will choose the AP challenge." Mt. View is working with three middle schools to increase awareness of the benefits of AP and to build vertical teams and expand course offerings through increased teacher training.
A firm believer in the alignment of AP with the state's learning standards, John sees AP expansion as the vehicle for larger system change. "We are proposing to make fundamental changes in order to infuse AP concepts, skills, and strategies into all levels of our district curriculum."
Blaine School District in Blaine, Washington, is a fishing community in decline. Located on the state's northern border adjacent Canada, the district's one high school of 450 students had only 17 students take Advanced Placement exams in 2000, which was still a record high mark for this school challenged by high poverty levels and a growing immigrant population. Their strategy for program expansion will begin with teacher training. Commenting on the effort, Principal Dan Newell notes, "It was the most influential thing I have ever done as far as putting a new level of enthusiasm in my building and adding incredible strength to an already strong small school schedule." Blaine has sent four teachers to training, hosted a Building Success Training, and will add four new AP courses this school year.
Across the Cascade Mountains in the Yakima Valley, the Mabton School District is located in the heart of the state's agricultural region. Many settled-out migrant worker families make the area home. The district is 85 percent Hispanic and 80 percent low income. Up until the 2000-2001 school year, no Advanced Placement courses were offered at the junior/senior high school of 350 students. That is changing now with an effort to dramatically expand AP over the next five years. This small, rural school district will train at least three teachers this year and add up to 10 new courses over time.
This past summer, a special program was planned to motivate and support potential AP students. The attendees were high-performing Hispanic girls from middle school. AP teacher Tamara Steen feels that support in the pre-AP years is especially important for traditionally underrepresented AP students. "The students were so enthusiastic and loved being challenged. Their parents were grateful for the new opportunities and the acknowledgement of the high expectations for their children."
Pioneers in APIP
These three Washington communities could not be more different in size, student population, locale, or economies; however, they have two things in common. They are all working to expand Advanced Placement opportunities for their students and underrepresented populations, and they are a part of the initial group of school districts that received sub-grants through a program development effort sponsored by the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction through the federally funded Advanced Placement Incentive Program (APIP).
Washington State is undertaking a three-year effort to increase Advanced Placement opportunities for special populations. The state project has four goals:
- Increase student, educator, parent, and community awareness of new advanced placement opportunities within Washington
- Increase the enrollment of low-income individuals in both Advanced Placement courses and testing through long-term strategies of identification and support
- Increase the availability of advanced placement courses in school districts serving high-poverty areas of the state
- Develop innovative models for schools and districts impacted by special conditions affecting Advanced Placement opportunities such as rural and remoteness, high unemployment, and high concentrations of underrepresented populations
The first year of the project emphasized district awareness of the issues and provided information about the opportunities for change. The state APIP project staff conducted nine regional workshops for school personnel and talked to over 1,000 other individuals through a series of presentations. Through a competitive process, sub-grants were awarded to 40 local projects such as the ones at Mt. View, Blaine, and Mabton. The emphasis will be on the development of local models for innovative AP program development and course delivery.
Like many states, Washington emphasizes "local control," and the state's APIP project reflects that priority. Within the framework of the larger federal goals, each participating school district is crafting a custom plan to offer and expand AP for their communities and varied student populations. Some of the current efforts being conducted by grantees include the development of support systems for Native American students; curriculum alignment and vertical teams formation for high school and middle school teachers; parent outreach and involvement models; online learning models; recruitment, counseling, and support strategies for students; and other unique strategies to break the "tyranny of low expectations."
Encouraging Results
The state project has had a boost from some encouraging statistics. The news was good for Washington as the 2001 Advanced Placement participation report was released on August 28. The number of candidates is up 16.9 percent, higher than the national increase of 10.3 percent. The number of exams taken is up 19 percent, higher than the national increase of 10.3 percent. Participation by ethnic subgroup is up in almost all categories, including a 60 percent increase in Mexican American candidates. And, the number of students with scores of 3 or better has increased by 13 percent over 2000 results.
With an emphasis on planning and teacher training support, the cycle for the second year of the state's project continues with this 2001-2002 school year.
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