Entiat and Bridgeport schools win grants to offer college-level classes

Among the recipients of OSPI’s first round of Advanced Placement grants were Entiat Junior-Senior High School and Bridgeport High School. The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction announced that a total of $139,600 is being awarded in the first year of the three-year grant to 38 schools and districts across the state. Rural school districts seeking to set up Pre-Advanced Placement and Advanced Placement programs are eligible for this support.

Each of the grant recipients demonstrated plans to achieve one or more of the following goals outlined by the U.S. Department of Education and the state proposal:

• Increase the numbers of low-income and underrepresented students enrolled in Pre-AP and/or AP courses and taking AP exams;
• Increase the availability of pre-AP and AP courses in rural school districts serving low-income and underrepresented populations of students;
• Increase the number of teachers prepared to teach pre-AP and AP; or
• Increase student, teacher, administrator, parent and community awareness and support of pre-AP and AP opportunities for students.

The awards may be applied toward a variety of AP-related activities including teacher training, curriculum alignment, communicating with parents and the community about Pre-Advanced Placement, Advanced Placement, and coordinating pre-AP and AP with the state’s Essential Academic Learning Requirements and the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.

Superintendents Dennis Chambers from Entiat School District and Gene Schmidt from Bridgeport say they’ll spend the funding to train teachers in the Advanced Placement curriculum, and to begin offering the more advanced classes to students. Bridgeport and Entiat began offering Advanced Placement classes this school year, with Bridgeport’s program still in the trial stage.

Dennis Chambers reported, “Our active Strategic Planning group targeted the need for academic excellence. To that end, they wanted to investigate the idea of AP classes in our junior and senior high to challenge students.” He went on to say, “After using so many of the tried and true methods of deciding on a ‘clear purpose’ and a ‘collaborative school culture,’ it is great to have a grant that lets us focus on students and impact their learning in a positive, upbeat way.”

Gene Schmidt stated, “ Bridgeport School District is excited about the opportunity to broaden and increase the academic rigor of our curriculum with the addition of Advanced Placement courses in the high school. The three-year AP grant provides funding to expand our current ‘college in the high school’ English coursework with new coursework in U. S. history, advance sciences and math, as well as explore possible new coursework in creative writing and poetry. Through the power of this grant, students enrolling in Bridgeport High School in the upcoming years will have the chance to graduate with upwards of 10-20 college credits. It is truly an exciting time in Bridgeport.”

The AP program enables students to pursue college-level studies while still in high school. Thirty-five courses in 19 subject areas are offered. Based on their performance on the rigorous AP Exams, students can earn credit, advanced placement, or both, for college. Last year, 15,380 secondary schools in the nation, with a total of over one million students, participated in the AP program.