Using Pre-AP and Advanced Placement to Change School Culture Mary Kathryn Stein, Program Coordinator Krystal Nail, Program Advisor Arkansas Department of Education Office of Gifted & Talented and Advanced Placement Dr. Ken James, President Lynn Harrison, Program Manager Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Science, Inc.

Why Advanced Placement? It’s the law. AP courses in the 4 core subject areas have been required in school districts since the school year.

What are the advantages of AP? ●Students may take college-level classes while still in high school. ●Each course has a rigorous national exam, and most colleges will give credit for scores of 3, 4, or 5 on these exams. Scores range from 1-5 on the exams.

Advantage Taking AP courses demonstrates to college admission officers and scholarship adjudicators that students have sought the most rigorous curriculum available to them.

Advantage Each AP course is modeled upon a comparable college course and each AP teacher’s syllabus has to be reviewed and approved by College Board

Advantage Research indicates that students who score a 3 or higher on an AP Exam typically experience greater academic success in college and are more likely to earn a college degree than non-AP students.

What can we do to promote AP in our district? Take advantage of state funding for teacher training for Advanced Placement and Pre- Advanced Placement teachers. Build an effective Vertical team of teachers to increase participation and success on AP exams.

What can we do to promote AP in our district? Apply for AP Material and Equipment grants for new AP courses, AP courses being revised, or courses that have not received funding in the last three years. Commissioner’s Memo in August ($1000 per course)

What can we do to promote AP in our district? Use the data from the PSAT to target and recruit students to take AP courses. The ADE and College Board will be offering a webinar about how to do this in the fall.

What can we do to promote AP in our district? Help your AP teachers to understand how to improve their instruction. The ADE and College Board are providing a free webinar to help AP Teachers use their Instructional Planning Reports to improve their success rate. It’s on August 5th at 1 PM.

Join College Board and the Arkansas Department of Education at a free webinar to learn more about how to use the AP Instructional Planning Guide to improve instructional planning. The webinar will help teachers target areas for increased attention and focus in the curriculum. Session participants should have a copy of their AP Instructional Planning Report to reference during the webinar. AP Instructional Planning Report Webinar participants will · Register online for our upcoming session on August 5, 2014, from 1 pm – 2 pm.egister online There is a link on the arkansased.org website in the lower right hand list of Calendar of Events.

What can we do to promote AP in our district? The state provides $50 per AP score of 3 or higher. It is fine to give the money to the students who earn the scores as an incentive for students to take AP courses and exams.

What can we do to promote AP in our district? Provide more Pre-AP classes with trained Pre-AP teachers to promote the skills needed to be successful in AP classes.

AP in Arkansas

College Board Resources AP Program Free Resources Ordering Counselor Resources Big Future

AP Advocacy Advocacy Own-the-turf Finding your passion A lighter look

Video Clips Turning it around Jumpstart to college Neither parent went to college AP and College Admissions Human Geography Class video on AP

AR AIMS Slides

Thank you for listening! Here is the QR code for the powerpoint of today’s presentation.