Current Projects
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TULANE HOSTS ITS INAUGURAL ADVANCED PLACEMENT SUMMER INSTITUTE: JUNE 28-JULY 1, 2010
Click here to learn more about AP course workshops and register for Tulane’s AP Summer Institute.
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Learn about the participating high schools in AdvanceNOLA
Want to know more about the New Orleans public high schools participating in AdvanceNOLA?
Additional Info
The overall goal of this initiative is simple – to provide high school students with the tools needed to succeed in college. With a $1.6 million grant from the ExxonMobil Foundation and a generous donation from the AT&T Foundation, the Cowen Institute at Tulane University is piloting an Advanced Placement training and incentive program in four public high schools in New Orleans over the next five years. This program will infuse these high schools with a new culture and direction based on improving post-secondary education awareness, preparedness, and success. It is premised on proven success using a philosophy of high expectations and incentives for performance. Research has shown that the main components of this initiative – providing at-risk students access to advanced placement courses, extensive professional development opportunities for school personnel, and performance-based financial incentives for students and teachers – have proven to drastically increase the number of students (especially minorities) who are prepared for and graduate from college.
Areas of Focus:
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In the Spring 2009 semester, the Cowen Institute launched Advanced Placement courses in three partner schools in the following five subjects: Chemistry, English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, Physics, and Statistics. Last year, we had 69 students enrolled in these courses.
We are proud to report we have over 200 students enrolled in AdvanceNOLA this year in several subjects that include: Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, English Language, English Literature, and Statistics.
To date, the Cowen Institute has spent over $200,000 on textbooks, supplies, and classroom/laboratory equipment in the program high schools. We have also secured additional funding for technology enhancements for the science and math labs. Students from Tulane University have been hired to serve as course assistants, allowing teachers to focus on teaching, not lab preparation. Teachers have reported this is the first time they have had books for every student and that students themselves are very excited about new books.
As part of this extensive program, school staff at several levels are receiving high level training from some of the best trainers in the country. We recognize that leadership development is key to the success of this program.
School Vertical Team Development and Support
Vertical teaming allows instructors from different grade levels in given disciplines and administrators to work to develop and implement a vertically-aligned program to help students acquire skills and knowledge for success in the schools AP program. Before AdvanceNOLA, teachers reported very little collaboration within academic departments. Vertical team training allows alignment of curriculum from 9th-12th grades. For example, students learn about cell components in their life sciences class in earlier grades, which helps to build the foundation for their AP coursework in Biology. Each year, teachers from the four schools will participate in a three-day workshop to support extensive teacher professional development in vertical teaming to promote readiness for AP offerings. Teachers will develop strategies to streamline and connect curriculum, allowing teachers to concentrate on what and how they teach as well as how they communicate with each other.
School Leader Training and Support
The Cowen Institute provides school leaders with the resources and training needed to change the culture in their schools to one that focuses on high expectations and college readiness. The leaders of our partner schools have demonstrated an ability to develop and sustain an educational environment that is rigorous and responsive to the needs of their students. All administrators attended training durient he summer of 2009 that helped them prepare to build robust AP programs.
Teacher Training and Support
Teachers participating in the AdvanceNOLA program are expected to provide rigorous AP coursework, tutoring, and other support activities to achieve qualifying scores in math, science, and English. We have partnered with the College Board and the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) to offer ongoing professional development and content mastery training opportunities. Each teacher currently instructing an Advanced Placement class has attended at least one training workshop and has received stipends for attending and participating in these trainings. Teachers report that the workshops they attend are both professionally and personally rewarding. In the Summer of 2009, seventy five percent of the 2009-10 teachers attended a five-day AP Summer Institute in their subject area. Advanced Placement Summer Institute courses provide teachers with an overview of the curriculum, structure, and content of specific AP courses. Teachers focus on developing syllabi, learning teaching strategies, and relating course material to the AP exam. In addition, a number of the current AP teachers audit courses in their respective fields at Tulane University. The tuition for these courses has been waived by the University’s leadership, allowing teachers to receive access to courses that will increase their content knowledge without cost to themselves, their school, or their district.
The Cowen Institute has also hired mentor teachers to serve each subject area. These mentor teachers visit New Orleans throughout the year to help teachers with their syllabi, pacing guides, and assessments; to observe; to model teaching practices; and to assist with Saturday test preparation sessions. The AdvanceNOLA mentor teachers are among the best AP teachers in the country, and they have all taught in schools with similar socioeconomic challenges to AdvanceNOLA’s.
School Counselor and Administrator Support
The role of the school counselors and AP Coordinators is pivotal to the success of the AdvanceNOLA program. They are responsible for increasing student participation and engagement with more rigorous curricular offerings and success in AP courses and exams. We will offer a stipend of $1,000 to AP coordinators as their role expands with each passing week.
During the Spring semester, students from the participating schools attend student prep sessions on Saturdays on Tulane’s campus. Students receive extra help with their coursework, go over AP exam questions, and practice problems. Students have been enthusiastic and eager to attend the training sessions. When asked if they are looking forward to giving up a Saturday for a training session at Tulane University, students boasted about how excited they were to be attending “college” that weekend. Rewards for attendance include lunch and visits around Tulane’s campus, including visits to the student recreation center, student residence facilities, and the mock stock market room inside Tulane’s A. B. Freeman School of Business. Future incentive plans include tickets to major New Orleans sporting events and area college field trips. Students also design class t-shirts to promote their participation in AP classes.
The AdvanceNOLA program also assists school counselors in providing supportive information to help in student and family decisions to prepare for and enroll in college. Over 150 colleges from around the country sent information for students about their college fairs, admissions process, buttons, pins, pennants, and other materials.
In addition to the stipends that are offered to teachers and school administrators to support the increased responsibilities associated with offering AP courses, the AdvanceNOLA program provides financial incentives to teachers for each qualifying score achieved by students in their eligible AP classes. Students are also eligible to receive these financial incentives.
In order to effectively and accurately compare students’ achievement across all schools and grades, we will continuously work to collect survey data for each school. In addition to this survey data, we are actively working with the Recovery School District and the individual schools to be able to track PSSS, PSAT, ACT, SAT, and AP exam results.
College Readiness Contacts:
Emily Remington
Manager, College Readiness Programs
504-274-3684
eremingt@tulane.edu