The College Board has recently released the 7th Annual AP Report to the Nation, which details states’ efforts over the last year to increase Advanced Placement (AP) coursetaking, particularly among traditionally underserved student populations.
Report highlights include:
Increased globalization of the economy has led educators and political leaders to recognize the need to transform education in order to prepare students to succeed in the global economy. For high schools, this means that for students to graduate ready for college and careers, they must be able to perform well not only nationally, but also among their international peers.
In a speech hosted by Achieve last week, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan repeatedly emphasized the goal of preparing students for colleges and careers. Secretary Duncan’s speech was primarily about state consortia working together to create common, rigorous assessments, and he mentioned college- and career-readiness 18 times, framing it as a central goal of developing common standards and assessments.
Race to the Top (RTTT) round two award winners were released yesterday, and the news is good for the nine state winners and the District of Columbia. Though we’ve devoted previous blogs to round two finalists’ applications, we’re now taking a closer look at high school-specific proposals in the winning states. Though many states have exciting and successful high school initiatives already up and run