Muscogee County high school named AP Champion

A Muscogee County school is one of five in Georgia this year to be honored by a national academic program that allows students to take college-level courses and exams to earn college credit while still in high school.

Carver High School has been named a winner of the AP Champion Award, which recognizes efforts to eliminate barriers that restrict Advanced Placement access.

The news release from the Georgia Department of Education noted other selection criteria: ensuring AP classes reflect the school’s diversity, building and sustaining a positive culture around AP, and creatively promoting AP coursework.

Carver more than doubled its number of Pre-AP and AP classes from the 2013-14 school year to 2014-15 and has more students taking AP classes and more teachers certified to teach them than ever, principal Chris Lindsey told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.

Lindsey didn’t provide specific amounts after being asked in a follow-up email, but it’s clear the school’s efforts have produced positive results and attention.

“We are encouraging our students to take AP classes and we have presented more rigor in our classrooms,” Lindsey said. “Our teachers and guidance counselors work very hard to help students decide what level of coursework they are capable of doing. We used a variety of data to identify those students that are capable and this allowed us to be more inclusive with who we felt could handle the AP coursework.”

Motivating students is key, the principal said, so they believe they can do advanced work and gain the critical thinking skills they need to succeed.

“Our students have this potential and it is our job to get them to this level,” he said. “Carver’s expectations have risen and our students are rising to meet the new challenges.”

Muscogee County School District superintendent David Lewis praised Carver’s achievement.

“I am very pleased that Carver High was one of five high schools in Georgia to be recognized for their efforts in promoting and increasing student access to challenging Advanced Placement coursework,” Lewis said in an email to the L-E. “Data and research is clear that the fast lane of rigorous coursework can transform all students’ futures, and AP can be a powerful accelerator for diverse students. This can be particularly true with respect to Carver’s STEM Magnet program since underrepresented students who pass an AP course are 2-4 times more likely to major and persist in STEM fields in college.

“With this in mind, identifying, enrolling and supporting students are critical steps toward improving performance in these courses. Utilizing PSAT data and a corresponding tool known as AP Potential is one way in which counselors at Carver High are identifying underrepresented students to ensure that more students who are ready for these courses have the opportunity to do so.”

The other Georgia winners are Central High School (Carroll County), Dutchtown High School (Henry County), Islands High School (Savannah-Chatham County) and Peachtree Ridge High School (Gwinnett County). Each winning school receives $500 for its AP program.

AP is one of the programs offered by the College Board, which also administers the SAT. According to the College Board’s website, among the ways AP benefits students:

▪ AP can save students money. Students who take longer to graduate from a public college or university typically pay as much as $19,000 for each additional year. That figure is an average of $26,197 at private institutions. High school students must receive a 3 or better on a scale of 1-5 on the AP exam to receive college credit for their AP courses in high school. Each exam costs $92, but financial aid is available.

▪ AP improves the four-year college graduation rate. For example, the rate for AP English Literature students was 62 percent higher than the rate for those who weren’t in the program.

▪ AP increases chances for college admittance and scholarship awards. Eighty-five percent of selective colleges and universities report that a student’s AP experience favorably impacts admission decisions, and 31 percent of all colleges and universities consider it a factor in awarding scholarships.

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 6:12 AM with the headline "Muscogee County high school named AP Champion."