AP/IB Boosters - Goals and Specific Changes/Improvements Sought

Last updated October 26, 2003

Contents

• Mission Statement
• Goals
• Specific Changes/Improvements Sought

Mission Statement

The goal of the AP/IB Boosters is to work with the Everett School District to develop a college preparatory curriculum. We are recommending that the Everett School District either adopt an Advanced Placement Program® or an International Baccalaureate Program. We are concerned that the basic courses do not meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. Without AP or IB courses the students of the Everett School District are at a competitive disadvantage, academically, compared to students from school districts that offer a more rigorous academic program. We are convinced that students in the Everett School District are as capable and motivated as students in any other school district.

The AP/IB Boosters are for higher standards and academic excellence. We invite parents, students, teachers and administrators to join us in this endeavor.

Goals

• Increase the opportunities for students to experience and succeed at college academics, but within the social and emotional support systems of high school.
• Educate the community on the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) Courses and the International Baccalaureate Organization's IB Program - the two premier high school curricula.
• Emphasize and improve academics for all K-12 students.

12 Step Education Improvement Program and Reform

1) Henry M. Jackson High School should be required to discontinue the block English/History combined courses. Separating English and History courses will give more options for students. A student may excel in one subject but not the other. AP World History should be an option for freshmen, juniors, and seniors, not just sophomores. Students should have a better opportunity to earn higher grades instead of a combined lower grade. Teaching separate disciplines should maximize student performance on Washington State mandated assessments. By 2008 the State of Washington will have created new assessments for the Social Sciences.

Social Science will consist of the following four areas:

• History,
• Geography,
• Economics and
• Civics.

English consists of the following two areas:

• Language Arts,
• Literature.

2) The Everett School district should require Henry M. Jackson High School to modify or remove the 4x4 block schedule in order to provide more options for students. The 4x4 schedule only provides 77% of the instruction time for each 1 credit course compared to students at schools with a traditional six period schedule. The probability of a scheduling conflict with a six-period day is equal to 16.7% or a ratio of one-to-six whereas the probability of a conflict with a four-period day is 25% or a ratio of one-to-four. Jackson High School should adopt either a traditional six period day or a modified block schedule similar to the top 6 high schools in the Greater Seattle Area as an alternative to the 4x4.

3) The Everett School district should require all high schools to add additional challenging options to their high school curriculum (AP or IB program).

• The Everett School District should add on-line programs such as from APEX and Aventa for students to take AP or other courses not offered at one of the high schools.
• The Everett School District should create an official IB option for Everett Public Schools students. Two possibilities:
  • Start an official partnership with Inglemoor or Kamiak High School.
  • Seek a Gates (or similar) Grant to start a new 6-12 IB school for the district.
• All AP courses should be open to all students. All 9th-12th graders should be able to take any AP course.
• All AP courses should be taught to the College Board Standard. We ask that the Everett School District review course titles and content of AP designated courses offered at ESD schools.
• The Everett School District should adopt a policy to help entice students into AP level classes. Grades should be raised depending on AP exam performance. Grading should not be used as a scare tactic to discourage students from taking on high level courses. Some colleges recalculate High School GPA. Some only "count" core courses and add an additional grade point to AP or IB classes.
• The Everett School District needs to lead the effort to educate the school community about the benefits of AP and IB.

4) The Everett School District needs to establish a summer reading program for all students in all grades similar to other school districts (e.g., The Bellevue School district has required summer reading for every 6th-12th grader). We have a suggested summer reading program for all K-12 students at the link below. http://www.apibboosters.org/SummerReadingEverettSD.html

5) The emphasis in a high school academic setting should be on the core courses such as English, World Languages, History, Math, Science and the Arts. No program or course should dominate the schedule.

6) Parents should be able to see a detailed course syllabus either written or on-line for all high school courses. Some teachers at JHS have already taken this step: http://www.everett.wednet.edu/schools/high/hmjackson/academics/classweb.html

7) The Everett School District needs to encourage students to take ACT, SAT II and the National AP exams in addition to the SAT I exams. The district should continuously publish measurements of teaching and learning effectiveness using the results from the following exams: WASL, ITBS/ITED, ACT, SAT I, SAT II, and National AP Exam results for each school in the district. This coupled with a list of National Merit Scholars, the UW's Annual High School to University GPA Transition Report and a list of the colleges and universities high school graduates attend upon graduating high school will provide the district with an accurate measurement of a school’s performance.

8) The Everett School District needs to raise the standards of the middle and elementary schools. Too many students graduate middle school unprepared for high school.

• Continue the practice of vertical teams.
• Add Pre-AP courses to the middle school curriculum.
• Put more emphasis on grammar and punctuation at the middle and elementary school level.
• Add more World Language options and offer these in the middle school.
• The District should require Washington State History to be taught in the middle schools.
• The District should require Earth Science to be taught in the middle schools.

9) The Everett School District needs to implement a policy that promotes important academic events. Examples: College Fairs, UW Math Day, UW World Languages Day, UW Engineering Open House, UW Health Sciences Open House, UW School of Art Open House, FIRST Robotics Competition, Mathematics Competitions.

10) The Everett School District should have a policy of strongly encouraging civics education. All high school students should (and AP Government & Politics students must) regularly read a significant newspaper or weekly newsmagazine. This practice improves reading and writing skills; teaches students about life after high school such as college, careers and community service; and serves as a national and global civics lesson.

11) Since education is a series of building blocks, no student should be allowed to continue with the next level of instruction without demonstrating sufficient knowledge and understanding of the previous levels.

12) The Everett School District should support a program for Academic Recognition similar to Athletics.

Break the Tyranny of Low Expectations

We need your support in our efforts.

Please contact:

AP/IB Boosters
C/O: Todd Aagard
P.O. Box 13317 Mill Creek, WA 98082 
info@apibboosters.org
www.apibboosters.org