Our Reason for Tackling AP/IB Equity Work

Everett Public Schools is committed to ensuring all students graduate ready for college and career. As such, the district identified the expansion of AP courses and other challenging courses as areas of strategic importance to ensure students graduate from high school prepared to meet the challenges of a wide-range of post-secondary options. In particular, Advanced Placement (AP) courses, based on the research, have clearly been courses that prepare students for the rigors of college.

The Most Inspiring Aspect of the Work

This work makes a difference for students, families and others by offering access to a more rigorous curriculum, a college going culture, and college level experiences, built on top of a robust set of support and engagement opportunities. Underrepresented students deserve equal opportunities for college level courses and deserve accelerated supports to build community, strengthen academic achievement, and develop cognitive and social/emotional skills for school and post-secondary success.

Who Benefits Most

Our district successfully closed participation gaps at both of the participating high schools in our district. The students who may have been overlooked in the past were the among the greatest benefactors of this work. This experience also allowed staff to examine their beliefs about who belongs in AP courses. By opening up access to rigorous high school courses, including AP courses, rather than viewing them as appropriate for a few, then we eliminated participation gaps and achievement gaps that are predictable based on race, ethnicity, and income; we will also raised the expectations for all students because of our focus on rigorous coursework for all students.

Advice

We had committed building teams and strong district level support. This is key to successfully implementing this work.