San Diego’s AP® Alliance Project a Model for Success

Jan. 2010

Advocacy

Don Mitchell, APIP director for San Diego Unified School District

“Cool to Be Smart,” a new program from the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), offers a chance at great prizes to students who pass four or more AP® and/or International Baccalaureate classes. These presentations are made at the year’s end during a festive annual recognition ceremony — last year’s celebration was at the House of Blues.

This is but one program of SDUSD’s AP Alliance Project, which strives to boost participation in AP and IB classes, particularly among low-income and traditionally underrepresented students.

The AP Alliance Project was created after SDUSD received a three-year Advanced Placement Incentive Program (APIP) grant (the second-highest award in the nation) from the U.S. Department of Education. The program serves six San Diego area high schools — Hoover, Kearny, Madison, Mission Bay, Point Loma and Serra — and eight feeder middle schools. The AP Alliance is composed of 80 university, college, community and business partners working together to increase the number of AP courses offered at each high school, increase the number of low-income and underrepresented students who enrolled in AP courses, and increase the number of AP Exams taken and passed by low-income and underrepresented students.

In just the first year, more than 200 new low-income and underrepresented students participated in 104 AP/IB courses (a 61 percent increase in offerings), and  290 teachers received 1,948 hours of AP/IB training. In addition, 3,838 students participated in APIP activities (369 different AP/IB activities at six high schools); 967 students participated in AP test prep; 1,213 students were counseled on AP Potential™; 1,000 students participated in one or more college field trips; 1,131 students participated in college fairs; 1,120 students participated in the College Board’s MyRoad™; and 709 students participated in PSAT/NMSQT® test prep. The AP Alliance donated more than $300,000 to support AP/IB students.

“SDUSD is just in its second year of APIP,” says Donald R. Mitchell, director of APIP for SDUSD, “but we have already made considerable progress toward meeting our goal for September 2011 of closing the AP/IB academic achievement gap with regard to access, enrollment and student success rates. Our students are now much more likely to finish the education they need to succeed in the future.”

AP Alliance provides comprehensive support services to the participating schools, which each qualify with a minimum of 40 percent of students who are eligible for free and reduced lunches. For teachers and staff, the program offers professional development and certification in AP, cultural proficiency training, College Board Leadership Institute for Principals™ and ongoing teacher support. Students receive year-round supplemental educational opportunities, and there is substantial parent outreach and education.

Another successful effort has been the Summer Enrichment Camp, which eases student transition between eighth and ninth grade and provides practice AP classes for 10th- through 12th-graders. Camp participant passing rates on AP Exams have increased 53 percent overall and 10 percent for African American students.

Mitchell, a former music teacher and principal, is also the co-chair of the College Board’s A Dream Deferred™ advisory committee and a widely respected champion for students of color, and low-income and other underserved students. He will lead a panel discussion on AP at the annual conference, A Dream Deferred™: The Future of African American Education, which will be held April 29–30 at Spelman College and Morehouse College in Atlanta. Other panelists include Steve Baker, William Ponder and Clayton Ballard. For more information about the conference, visit the website.