Shelby County High School:

Success with AP scores

Presented by Mary Louise Pozaric

& Jennifer LaRue

Shelby County has shown a dramatic

increase in the number of students

enrolled in AP courses.

2008 enrollment

328 students enrolled in AP courses*

7% of 12th grade in an AP course

13% of 11th grade in an AP course

19% of 10th grade in an AP course

No courses available to 9th grade

81% took corresponding exam

*Includes duplicate students if student is taking more than 1 course

2011 enrollment

470 students enrolled in AP courses*

41% of 12th grade in an AP course

40% of 11th grade in an AP course

14% of 10th grade in an AP course

11% of 9th grade in an AP course

90% took corresponding exam

*Includes duplicate students if student is taking more than 1 course

2012 enrollment

604 students enrolled in AP courses*

41% of 12th grade in an AP course

46% of 11th grade in an AP course

36% of 10th grade in an AP course

30% of 9th grade in an AP course

*Includes duplicate students if student is taking more than 1 course

How and why did this happen?

Shelby County created a

climate that emphasizes AP

courses.

Advance KY/NMSI grant

National Math Science Initiative grant administered by Advance Kentucky

Goal is to increase enrollment and qualifying scores in Math, Science and English AP courses

Shelby County is a member of the first Cohort of the grant, which began in 2008-2009 school year

NMSI Grant’s element

s of success

Results of Grant

Note: SCPS split high schools in 2011. Enrollment reduced by 50%

College & Career Readiness Awareness

AP Night Invite 8th grade students to encourage

them to enroll in AP as freshman

Power Point presentation available at: http://www.collegeboard.com/html/ap/docs/AP-Parents-Night-Presentation-2010-11.ppt

CCR Awareness

Benchmarks and goal of increasing CCR by 10% are posted throughout school

Students know benefits of AP courses and college tuition

Students know that enrollment in AP courses in high school leads to greater success in college

Resources for informing students are available at: http://www.advanceky.com/College%20Board.aspx

Eliminated Honors classes

Eliminated Honors level courses for English in 2011, all courses for 2012 school year

Assumption is that Honors students are college bound

These students should be in courses that prepare them the most for college

College recognize AP, no standard for Honors

Students given Honors credit if they don’t take AP exam

KEES weighting for all courses

Training for teachers

Advance Kentucky sent MSE teachers to Advanced Placement Summer Institutes for first three years of grant

SCPS worked with OVEC and UofL to send all AP teachers who had not been trained to APSI in 2011

Laying the Foundation Pre-AP training

Send as many teachers as possible!

Scheduling

Accelerated Academy New initiative of SCPS

Students selected through application process

Students will move through as a cohort

Students take an extra “zero-hour” course before school

Opportunity for 15 AP courses throughout high school

Scheduling

AP drives Master Schedule Schedule AP courses first to prevent

conflicts

SCHS on 7-period day

All Science courses last two periods

Calculus has optional lab course for those students needing extra help

We actively recruit students for AP

courses DATA

PLAN Report correlates PLAN scores and success

in AP courses

SCHS paid for 9th graders to take PLAN in May

Used scores to place students in pre-AP Physics course

Use data from 10th grade PLAN to identify students that did not sign up for AP

http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/UsingPlan.pdf

More Data

PSAT Plan to give PSAT to Accelerated Academy

students

Optional for juniors

Use AP Potential to identify more students

Teacher recruitment Gave rosters to teachers after scheduling

to check for level changes

New classes

Created new classes based on student interest Statistics 2008

Comparative Government 2009

Human Geography 2011

Computer Science 2013

District Goals

Our district has identified THREE BIG Goals: Send every elementary student to middle

school on grade level by 2012

Send every middle school student to high school on grade level by 2014

Graduate every senior with college/career readiness skills by 2016

Beyond the AP Classroom

AP Courses prepare students for college and/or their chosen careers: Exposure to rigorous content

Instruction by highly trained teachers

Access to after-school resources/tutoring

Removal of potential barriers to higher education

Unprecedented support at the classroom, building, district and state levels

Questions?

Mary Louise Pozaric Mary.Pozaric@shelby.kyschools.us

Jennifer LaRue Jennifer.LaRue@shelby.kyschools.us