In a continuing effort to strengthen and nurture long-time relationships between the College Board and the Oklahoma Legislature, the Southwestern Regional Office honored Oklahoma lawmakers with a reception April 8. The annual event was held in Phillips Pavilion, a popular venue for state dignitaries, on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion in Oklahoma City. Members of the SWRO applauded the legislators for their commitment to education throughout the Legislature’s first 100 years — the state celebrated its centennial last November — and for the Legislature’s continuing commitment as it begins its second century.

The Oklahoma Legislature passed, among other legislation, a bill that effectively established
the Oklahoma Advanced Placement Incentive Program, which is administered by the State Department of Education and provides financial assistance to teachers and schools, offers
test-fee assistance to students and grants $100 incentives for scores of 3 or better. The
purpose of the program is to increase the course offerings available to high school students
throughout the state and to prepare students for admission to and success in a postsecondary educational environment.

The opening speech was made by JoAnn Haysbert, College Board trustee and president of Langston University, and Paul Sechrist, past College Board trustee and president of Oklahoma City Community College. Representing State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett, Kristy Ehlers, director of AP® and Gifted and Talented Programs, thanked the legislators for their support of AP, in particular, and education in general. Regional Vice President Ann Wright assured the legislators of the College Board's commitment to sustaining and creating partnerships with the state of Oklahoma, partnerships that will help ensure Oklahoma students are college ready and prepared to make postsecondary choices in their best interest. 

VP Ann Wright

I have been traveling quite a bit, but I wanted to update you on the region’s major activities of the past month before heading to a conference in Arkansas.

As I mentioned in last month’s note, we have three new staff members who have begun their work in the region: Cheryll Gaffney, K-12 chief and former vice president at AVID; Julie Esau, Higher Ed chief who was a member of the College Board Loan Program until last fall; and Michelle Overstreet, Higher Ed education manager, who moved over from her HEAM position to fill the position formerly held by Yvonne Da Silva. Cheryll joined SWRO March 1, and both Julie and Michelle started in mid-March.

We have hosted two legislative receptions and one higher ed reception in the region recently. The first was held Feb. 6 in Santa Fe, and the second was held April 8 in Oklahoma City. The purpose of the legislative receptions was to honor the work of key legislators in support of the Advanced Placement Program®. Lee Fails, Jim Montoya, Paul Sanders, Joyce Elliott and I attended the reception in Santa Fe. Joyce Elliott, Julie Esau, Barbary Keith, Robb Chavez and I attended the reception in Oklahoma. You can read more about the Oklahoma reception in the related article on this page. And the higher ed reception for Arkansas SWRO members was held April 14 at the SACAC conference in Little Rock. Prior to that, Higher Ed staff attended a training session in Reston March 17-29, while K-12 staff went to San Jose March 24-25 for their training.

Beginning fall 2008, the Arkansas state agency has announced that all school districts in the state will have a choice between administering the PSAT/NMSQT® or PLAN. This is a new initiative for the College Board, as previously the state has paid only for ACT tests.

The Southwestern Regional Council meeting was held April 7-8 in Austin, Texas, with excellent attendance and enthusiastic participation in planning for both the upcoming national Forum in Houston and the regional forum in Oklahoma City. Speakers for the council included Nicki Junkins from SpringBoard®; Chris Jannuzzi, regarding the National Forum; and Jeremy Jernigan about the National Math and Science Initiative. Also, regional forum members gave vociferous support to the Big 12 football conference and the Kansas University win over Memphis to become NCAA basketball tournament champions during our meeting.

Ann

Get involved by presenting a session at the 2009 Southwestern Regional Forum, which will take place on Feb. 4-6, 2009, at the Renaissance Oklahoma City Convention Center Hotel in Oklahoma City, Okla.

The work you do, successes and challenges, can help others fulfill our mission to connect students to college success. We invite proposals that are illustrative of trends, new initiatives and/or effective strategies in any academic, admissions, financial aid or student service area. Interactive presentations are highly desirable.

The deadline to submit proposals is June 6, 2008. Click here to download the application form.

If you have any questions, comments or need help with the application, please do not hesitate to contact the Southwestern Regional Office (contact information at right). Applying to present a session is easy and your participation is valuable, so please submit your application today.