The Parkway district has recently contracted with the company Equal Opportunity Schools to encourage more Parkway students to take Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

The nationwide initiative is called Lead Higher. According to their website their mission is, “To enable secondary schools to fully reflect their diversity at the highest academic levels; and to elevate our national conversation about low-income students and students of color beyond achieving proficiency to academic excellence.”

The national concern is that not enough students fully capable of taking AP courses are enrolling in them, and therefore the diversity of the school is not reflected in the diversity of AP course enrollment.

The goal of contracting with Equal Opportunity Schools is to give every student equitable opportunity to take AP courses. However, their main focus is on students of color and students in poverty because they are the demographics that have the most AP enrollment gaps.

Assistant Superintendent for teaching, learning, and accountability Dr. Lisa Merideth presented information about the Lead Higher initiative at the School Board meeting on April 6, 2016.

“The contract with Equal Opportunity Schools was just approved at the last School Board meeting. However, we have been learning about the Lead Higher initiative for about three months,” Merideth said.

Principal Dr. Patrice Aitch explained the purpose of this contract.

“[Equal Opportunity Schools] will perform an educational audit to make sure all students have equitable opportunity. They will look at our numbers, and they are looking to see if students of color and those in poverty have equal access to AP classes. Surveys will be done with students, teachers, counselors, and parents to understand the qualitative information. With that information, they will create a student profile and go up to talk to students that fit that profile. They can have really good conversations to encourage those students to take AP,” Aitch said.

Aitch also said that this process had previously been performed on a smaller scale.

“This was done on a smaller scale with 8th grade students. Now it can be done on a much larger scale for the whole district,” Aitch said.

AP English teacher Dr. Pat Conley believes that the contract with Equal Opportunity Schools is needed.

“There has been a substantial decline with students taking AP; we used to have seven sections of AP English with 24-28 students in each class. The drop could reflect the general decline in enrollment. However, enrollment has not decreased by 50 percent but enrollment in AP classes has declined well over 50 percent,” Conley said.

Conley also commented on why he thinks some students do not take AP classes.

“We, meaning the faculty and school itself, are not actively encouraging enough students to take the academic challenge,” Conley said.

Reema Awad, a senior currently enrolled in AP Statistics and AP Psychology, explained why she thinks AP classes are beneficial.

“[AP courses] give people the stage to challenge themselves, and it can give you a head start on college level material and credit,” Awad said.

Junior Coryan Rhodes commented on why he does not take an AP course.

“My intelligence hasn’t reached AP level yet. I can’t take AP,” Rhodes said.

Aitch also gave her opinion on why she believes their is a lack of African American and other students taking AP courses.

“Some see AP classes as too high level. They don’t see the importance or how well the class could prepare you. They may focus on the immediate time that would have to be spent, not the benefits. Also, they might defeat themselves with intrinsic predetermination where they tell themselves they cannot do something because it did not work for them before,” Aitch said.

Additionally, Merideth explained the cost and timeframe of the contract with Equal Opportunity Schools.

“In total, the Parkway District will pay $65,600. The program Lead Higher provides some grants as well that offset some other additional costs. Each Parkway School has also received an $8,000 to offset individual school costs.

“The contract is a three step process. Between now and the 2018-2019 school year, Equal Opportunity Schools with study AP courses at each school. Then, by the 18-19 school year, all systems will be in place to encourage more enrollment in AP. We will also monitor AP courses for the next few years after that to make sure that no other step need to be taken,” Merideth said.

Aitch said that the contract Parkway has made with Equal Opportunity Schools will help all students realize the benefits of taking AP courses, especially the students who should be and are capable of taking an AP level class.

“I am excited because it gives opportunity to all students who should be taking AP level classes,” Aitch said.