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College Focus Profiles: Hale, Slaughter
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by Danell Jones
The College Board
Billings, Montana
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| | Black History Month
In honor of Black History Month, we have interviewed two professors of color who have been closely involved with the Advanced Placement Program. Professor Slaughter, from Alabama A & M, serves as a faculty reader for the AP American Government Exam; Professor Hale, from Xavier, runs AP and Pre-AP Summer Institutes (week-long training programs for AP teachers). In these interviews, the professors describe the value of their AP experience, talk about the special value of AP for minority students and teachers, and explain how faculty of color can make a difference.
The College Board® is committed to recruiting a diverse pool of college faculty to serve as consultants and readers for the AP program. We strongly encourage minority faculty to apply to become a faculty consultant or AP reader. Use the link at the bottom of this page to go to the online application form.
If you are a college educator, we would like to hear your ideas. If you would like to contribute to Faculty Focus, simply drop us a line at FacultyFocus@collegeboard.org.
Dr. Rosalind Pijeaux Hale
Associate Professor and Chair of the Division of Education
Xavier University of Louisiana
Ronald L. Slaughter, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Political Science
Alabama A&M University
Dr. Rosalind Pijeaux Hale
From your perspective as chair of an Education Department, what role does AP play in the lives of teachers of color?
As Chair of the Division of Education at Xavier University of Louisiana, I feel AP plays an important role in the careers of teachers of color. I use the word "careers" instead of "lives" because I think being introduced to the possibility of becoming an AP teacher can extend a teacher's career. Classroom teachers of color can become burned out before teachers from other ethnic groups because often they are not encouraged to teach upper-level courses. When they are introduced to the AP Program, these teachers soon realize that they have skills that may not have been tapped by their school principals. They begin to request that AP courses be included in the curriculum and that they teach them! This training can enhance their teaching careers because they may remain in the teaching profession longer.
Are college faculty of color of particular importance to the AP Program? If so, how?
I think college faculty of color are of importance to the AP Program, but that this will take a while to develop. While there are a few AP teachers of color, there are even fewer college faculty of color involved. I think it is important for college faculty of color to be involved in the AP program at many levels including planning and implementing AP programs as well as teaching AP courses.
You also run AP and Pre-AP Summer Institutes. In your view, what is the most essential thing college faculty can offer to these sorts of training programs?
One of the most essential things college faculty can offer to the AP and Pre-AP Programs is knowledge. I am not sure if this answer will surprise you, but in my view, an authentic exchange of knowledge is necessary in order for participants to leave feeling good about what they will be able to bring to their students. College faculty are involved because they are experts in the field. The most effective college faculty for these kinds of training programs know about teaching and challenge the AP participants to provide the college-level instruction to their students. These college faculty also model effective teaching while working with the AP teachers.
What message do you have for professors of color who are considering becoming involved with the AP Program?
I would like to beg and plead with faculty of color to inquire about participating in an AP training session in order to coordinate or teach at an AP or Pre-AP Institute. As more faculty of color become involved, I feel more teachers of color will become trained as AP teachers and the ultimate goal will be reached: more students of color will enroll in AP courses and be successful.
Ronald L. Slaughter, Ph.D.
In your view, do AP courses play a special role in the lives of students of color?
Oftentimes students of color may not be in the best academic situation or may not have the opportunity to prove that they can compete with the best students across the country. AP courses provide these students with the opportunity to challenge themselves and to measure themselves against others across the globe. Students can take the courses, develop their skills, and maybe just as importantly, the confidence of knowing that they can succeed in a challenging academic environment.
Access and equity are important issues for the College Board. In your experience, what are the most effective ways the AP Program promotes access and equity in minority communities?
I think the number one thing is simply that AP allows minority students, whatever their location, whatever their school environment, to take a course based on a national standard, and gives them the chance to prove on a competitive basis that they can meet that standard. If you want access to the best universities, you have to prove that you are prepared and capable of competing on a national level. AP provides that chance to prove that you are prepared like students from the best high schools in the country. So if you take advantage of those AP courses and do well on the AP Exams, then the doors of academia from all across this country will open up for you. It says to students that they can compete on an equal basis, and that to me is the most important aspect of equity and access.
What other programs or policies would you like to see developed?
I think there must be a more aggressive effort to expose minority teachers to the entire AP process. For example, I believe the current policy is that only AP teachers can attend the Reading. I would like to see some way for non-AP teachers to attend a Reading and see firsthand what their students are missing; have an exchange with other AP teachers and see what the standard of excellence is all about. I think that would be a very motivating experience for these teachers, and that they would go back and demand that their students have the opportunity to take AP courses.
As a political science professor, do you see the AP Political Science class as one of particular significance to students of color? If so, how?
My involvement has been with the American Government course, and I think the issues addressed are absolutely critical to students of color. On a personal and mass level, in order to get one's piece of the pie, you have to know how the system works. As a people who continue to struggle for full access and rights, it is imperative that they understand the history and dynamics of the process in order to complete a task where there is still work to be done. I often tell my own students that it is not enough to know the top ten rap stars while not having a clue as to who the key power brokers are in the U.S. Congress or even in their own states and communities.
From your perspective, why should professors of color get involved with AP?
Well, my primary involvement with AP has been at the Exam Reading and that experience provides a unique opportunity to develop a collegial relationship with other college and high school instructors who are on the cutting edge in teaching political science in a particular subject area. In many ways it's like a big professional conference. At the particular Reading I attend, we jokingly call it "government camp" because this is a place where you not only read but also dialogue about many salient issues in the field. For example, in just developing the parameters for a rubric and the weeklong process of reading hundreds of exams, a whole host of analytical points and views are raised in addressing a single exam question. As an instructor this is invaluable information you can take back to your own classes. In addition, I'm working with our School of Education to expand opportunities for our teacher education candidates to be exposed to and become future AP teachers.
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