This month, students in Jefferson Parish, LA, celebrated their district’s gains in AP enrollment. The increased participation was attributed to the school system’s partnership with Mass Insight Education, and our inclusion of academic and organizational strategies to implement teacher workshops and training for AP instructors. Participating school also increased the number of AP courses they offered, to include options beyond Calculus and English Literature, such as Psychology, Statistics, and Chemistry.
Meanwhile, Jefferson Parish Public Schools are still celebrating a report that came out late this summer, finding that the parish’s graduate rate has climbed, the rate of students scoring at or above grade level on standardized exams has increased, and the general improvement on standardized test scores within the parish outpaces the rest of the state.
Goes to show how added capacity and flexibility/autonomy, as well as pulling multiple levers simultaneously, can positively impact an entire traditional pubic school system’s results for kids.
For more on Jefferson Parish, check out Peter Cook’s four-part blog series, beginning with Defying Expectations, Part I.