Significant progress has been made on the National Math and Science Initiative since the recipients were announced last fall. The Connecticut Business and Industry Association and Mass Insight Education in Massachusetts have selected the schools in their respective states that will make up the first cohort of this ambitious program designed to boost participation in the AP® Program. These two organizations were among seven recipients of NMSI grants of up to $13.2 million each to be used to provide training and incentive programs to teachers of AP courses and to increase enrollment and promote success among students over the next six years.
 
Participating schools will see large increases in the number of students enrolled in rigorous AP English, math and science courses beginning this fall. Teachers and administrators in these schools will participate over the summer in professional development designed to increase their capacity to help the much larger group of students who take AP courses succeed.

The selected schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut are as follows:

VP Arthur Doyle

The initial results from the Meeting of the Minds session, which concluded the region's first Academic Symposium on College Readiness, are important indicators for our educational community. Sponsored by the Academic Division Advisory Committee of the College Board's New England Regional Assembly and held April 25 in Worcester, Mass., the symposium drew 190 educators from both K-12 and higher education to focus on advancing college readiness. Administrators and faculty from every aspect and level of education at the school, district, college, associational and state of education benefited from a rich curriculum that offered 21 sessions chosen by the program committee from 42 session proposals sent in response to the symposium request for proposals the committee had issued. The sessions were followed by an engaging and challenging address by Nicholas A. Donohue, president of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, which inspired serious thought about how education functions in a world that has already changed and will continue to do so at an ever-increasing pace. 

Participants who have responded to the Meeting of the Minds survey thus far agreed almost unanimously that the best practices reflected in the sessions could be transferred to other settings to support both student and institutional success. They also believe that there is a coalition-building capacity within the region and that it should focus on a number of key topics, such as curriculum vertical integration, college readiness and secondary school reform. Their expectations of the region's agencies and organizations are high when it comes to providing research and analyses of education in the region, the funding of pilots, impacting policy making and improving teacher-training programs in our colleges. The survey respondents believe the region's academic community needs to work more closely with regional agencies positioned to gather and disseminate information, trends and best practices, and use multimedia approach to reach audiences ranging from legislators to the general public. When specifically asked what is wanted, high school reform and ensuring that all students are prepared for postsecondary education were among the priorities, as was the need for more counselors in high schools. These priorities were identified as essential to encourage college readiness, to stimulate and maintain student interest in course work, to achieve fairness and inclusion, and to improve college access.  

The Academic Division Advisory Committee will be using the survey's final results to guide its work during the year ahead, and the committee will share the results with the Regional Council and educational partners throughout the region who are essential to advancing college readiness for all students in the region.