5 Schools Named SpringBoard® National Demonstration School Finalists

May 2012

Programs and Services

Five schools in Florida, Pennsylvania and Washington have been named SpringBoard® Demonstration School Finalists, in recognition of increased student achievement as well as outstanding instructional leadership and shared best practices by their teachers during the implementation of SpringBoard over the last three years.

This year’s SpringBoard National Demonstration School Finalists are Gig Harbor High School and Peninsula High School of the Peninsula School District in Washington; Bloomingdale High School of Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida; and Quakertown High School and Strayer Middle School of Quakertown Community School District in Pennsylvania.

SpringBoard was developed by the College Board as a college-readiness program in English Language Arts and Mathematics for students in grades six through 12. The program provides culturally and personally relevant activities designed to engage students in problem solving and critical analysis — creating a pre-Advanced Placement® program that increases participation and prepares a greater diversity of students for success in AP® and college. Designed to align with the Common Core State Standards, SpringBoard provides teachers with a rigorous curriculum and highly informative student assessments.

The five finalists have implemented SpringBoard for at least two years with ongoing professional development and improved student achievement. Their teachers have established a professional learning community within the school, so they and their peers can learn from collective classroom practices and share best practices. These finalists have completed a self-assessment aligned to school-level best practices for implementation of the SpringBoard program. Each school also produced a brief video of SpringBoard in action, which features student, teacher and administrator interviews that highlight the benefits and successes achieved during the 2009-12 school years.

“SpringBoard engages and empowers both students and educators,” said Pamela L. Nelson, vice president and general manager of SpringBoard at the College Board. “These five outstanding schools have shown that by aiming higher, rigor can be achieved by all students.”

“[Springboard] has provided us with a framework which ensures that all of our students are provided with a rich and rigorous curriculum. The strategies are consistent across the grade levels and are useful for the complex reading, writing and thinking needed for college and career,” said Anita Serge, principal of Quakertown High School. “We have seen incredible gains in our Pennsylvania System of School Assessment scores in addition to our AP scores. Additionally, while SAT® scores are declining on a national level, our scores continue to increase. It must be noted that this is all occurring with a population where 23 percent of our students our economically disadvantaged.”

The SpringBoard National Demonstration School winners will be announced in June 2012.