Years ago, Angie Johnson’s AP biology class was only offered every other year. Now, Johnson who’s in her seventh year teaching the class says, “I now have five sections, because we’re encouraging so many more students to take AP.”
She said 27 percent to 30 percent of her students are from a minority group, a number the district has taken a concerted effort to bolster, with its partnership with Seattle-based Equal Opportunity Schools. EOS’ goal – and Illinois has the greatest number of high schools involved, [Vicky] Tusken, [District 428’s secondary education curriculum director] said – is to make sure the ethnic and socioeconomic breakdown of a high school matches that of the students enrolled in AP courses.
