Midwest Regional Vice President Ileana Rodriguez with presenter Heather Hawes, AP® Coordinator for Putnam County (W.Va.) Schools VP Ileana Rodriguez

Like everywhere else, times have changed in Ohio. The once-prosperous manufacturing and agricultural economy has been replaced with one that is driven by technology and innovation. Today’s jobs rely on creativity, critical thinking and problem solving rather than on physical labor and production. Pursuing a college education should be the norm for high school graduates, not the exception.

Heather Hawes, AP® Coordinator at Putnam County (W.Va.) Schools, spoke about the work that her district is doing to build a college-going culture focused on college and career awareness and high expectations for all students.  Hawes showcased student career portfolios, a mock interview program and the means by which the district has increased Advanced Placement® participation
and performance.

The workshop offered specific strategies for engaging educators, students and families in developing a culture that values a rigorous curriculum and provides ongoing college and career-planning support for all students. Administrators, teachers, counselors and community leaders from nine of the 13 school districts were asked to complete an analysis of strategies and tools utilized to create a college-going culture and to develop an action plan grounded in the four components of the College Readiness System™:

• establishing a curriculum based on college-readiness standards;
• ensuring participation and success in rigorous academic courses;
• measuring achievement and monitoring student progress; and
• guiding college, career and financial planning.

One existing program, “Seniors to Sophomores,” offers high school students a head start to a college degree. This dual-enrollment program enables academically qualified high school seniors to earn both high school and college credit at the same time. High school students in the program take college courses on a University System of Ohio campus and can earn up to a year's worth of both high school and college credit, thus completing their last year of high school and their first year of college at the same time and at no cost to the student. However, this program and others like it can only succeed if students are properly prepared for success in college and work.

VP Ileana Rodriguez

Thanks to all the members from the Midwest Region that attended the National Forum in Houston earlier in November. We enjoyed greatly the opportunity to meet and dialogue with many of you during the regional breakfast and the many outstanding sessions.

A college-readiness workshop was held Oct. 29 in Ohio’s Columbiana County in collaboration with the Ohio Appalachian Center for Higher Education, the Ohio Board of Regents and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce. The event featured a presentation of progress on the “Sophomores to Seniors” initiative in Ohio and the College Board’s College Readiness System™. The workshop drew more than 25 participants ― including superintendents, principals, counselors and business/community leaders ―to discuss the development of a college-readiness culture in rural Ohio. Heather Hawes, gifted coordinator with the Putnam (W.Va.) County Schools, shared strategies they utilize to build a college-going culture that is centered on career awareness and planning and the creation of a systemic AP® Program.

Also in October, Chicago Public Schools hosted 19 AP teachers, counselors and administrators who offered workshops to approximately 400 CPS teachers and staff members. This is one example of the many ways in which we collaborate with educators in our region to promote a culture of college readiness for students in urban schools.

Earlier this month, Leslie Larocca joined the MWRO as our new senior director for higher education account services. Leslie has more than 20 years of experience in higher education, serving most recently as director of post-graduate planning at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts. She held several other positions while at Olin College, including director of corporate relations and assistant dean of admission, and worked in enrollment management at Simmons College and Boston College. We are delighted to have Leslie join our team. Please join me in welcoming Leslie to the College Board.

Best wishes for a peaceful and joyful holiday season from everyone at the
Midwest Regional Office!

At the Annual Meeting of the Members of the College Board on Nov. 7, three members were elected to serve as Trustees on the 31-member governing board of the association. In addition, three members who were elected by regional assemblies last winter to serve as Trustees were installed. The meeting occurred at the College Board Forum, held Nov. 5-8 at the Hilton Americas in Houston.

The Midwestern Regional Assembly elected Trustee is Arthur L. Williams, principal of Ann Arbor Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Williams, a native of Chicago, has 39 years of experience as a secondary school educator and is a graduate of the Chicago Public Schools. He has worked in five states (Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Pennsylvania) and seven school districts. He has served as a classroom teacher (U.S. history, government, world history and geography), dean of students, assistant principal and principal (for 20 years). For the last 14 years, he has been the principal at Ann Arbor Huron High School.

Williams has been active on the Midwestern Regional Council over the last six years; he has served as chair-elect, chair and past chair. In addition, he has served on the Program Planning Committee, was chair of the Greenhouse Committee and was recently selected as one of 800 educators traveling to China sponsored by the College Board, Hanban (China's Office of Chinese Language Council International) and Wayne State University. Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Western Illinois University, a master’s degree in administration and supervision from Roosevelt University, and a Ph.D. in educational administration and policy studies from Northwestern University.

Larocca comes to the College Board with more than 20 years of experience in higher education, most recently as director of post graduate planning at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts. In that role she established the college’s office of student career services, and under her leadership Franklin Olin College boasted a 93 percent placement rate within six months of graduation.

Larocca held several other positions at Olin College, including director of corporate relations and assistant dean of admission. Before her time at Olin, she held a variety of positions in enrollment management at Simmons College and Boston College.

“Throughout her career in higher education, Leslie has developed student services and enrollment programs from the ground up and built systems to help better serve students and the higher education community,” said Ileana Rodriguez, vice president for the Midwestern Regional Office. “We are very pleased to have her join our team.”

Larocca holds an M.Ed. from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia.

The Fall 2008 Advanced Placement Calculus National College Faculty Colloquium

It has been a busy fall for the College and University Services Unit in the Advanced Placement Program®. The group has hosted three colloquia in a little more than a month, all boasting outstanding college faculty leaders from some of the nation’s leading liberal arts and research institutions. The goal of these meetings was to engage college and university faculty to providing guidance and leadership to ensure that AP’s high standards for the courses and exams continue to meet and exceed expectations of the higher education community. All three events were held at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel, located in the heart of downtown.

The AP Calculus Colloquium was held Oct. 4-5, and the event drew nearly 60 college faculty members from some of the nation’s leading mathematics departments. Attendees were focused on ensuring that AP Calculus continues to maintain high standards in the more than 12,000 secondary schools that offer AP Calculus programs. Michael Boardman from Pacific University, Gail Burrill from Michigan State University, James Choike from Oklahoma State University, Stephen Davis from Davidson College, Stephen Greenfield from Rutgers University and David Lomen from the University of Arizona served as the faculty committee.

During the weekend of Oct. 25-26, nearly 70 computer science college faculty from around the country participated in the colloquium on computer science education. The meeting provided an opportunity for close networking with faculty colleagues, stimulating conversations and constructive debate on the future state of AP Computer Science in the more than 2,000 secondary schools that offer the course annually.  Owen Astrachan from Duke University, Amy Briggs from Middlebury College, Barbara Ericson from Georgia Tech, Dan Garcia from the University of California-Berkeley, Henry Walker from Grinnell College and Laurie White from Mercer University served as the faculty planning committee for the event. The meeting was a great success, and the College Board is now working in conjunction with the National Science Foundation to explore possible new directions for the AP Computer Science program.

The AP Latin Faculty Colloquium convened nearly 50 classicists Nov. 1-2 to focus on enhancing Latin education in the more than 700 secondary schools that offer AP Latin programs. The expertise and participation of outstanding faculty committee members Linda Gillison from the University of Montana, Elizabeth Keitel from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Mary Pendergraft from Wake Forest University and Glenn Storey from the University of Iowa ensured an organized, invigorating weekend full of discussions on the future of the AP Latin program.

At this year’s Forum, held in Houston in early November, 266 new members were elected to the College Board, bringing the total number of members to 5,653. Forty-four of these newly elected member institutions are from the Midwestern Region.

Click here to see the list of new members.

Click here to see events and workshops in the Midwestern Region.