February 27, 2006	Volume 5, Number 6

Wisconsin AP funding enhanced

Wisconsin is one of six states selected to receive an Advanced Placement (AP) Grant Award from the National Governors Association. This grant will fund the expansion of distance learning and online AP courses, help rural schools offer their first AP courses or increase their existing AP courses, provide teachers the training they need to teach these courses, and help defray AP exam fees for students in need.

“By expanding AP programming, more Wisconsin students, including students who never before had the opportunity, will be able to take rigorous coursework that can earn college credit while in high school,” State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster said. “Opportunities like AP classes support our efforts to close the achievement gap.”

The grant provides $500,000 over a two year period, and will assist Wisconsin to increase AP participation, particularly for low income and minority students. Evidence shows that students who enroll in AP courses and take the AP exam are significantly more likely to graduate from a four year college than those who take no AP courses prior to college.

State partners will work with nine Wisconsin school districts, one urban and eight rural, to expand AP opportunities and catalog best practices that can inform future AP expansions. The Madison Metropolitan School District was selected as the urban school district partner, in part, because last year it launched Project Excel, a program designed to increase the number of disadvantaged and minority students taking AP classes by identifying academically promising 8th graders. Eight rural school districts in southwest Wisconsin also will participate in the grant. Five districts (Cashton, De Soto, Platteville, River Valley, Viroqua) want to increase the number of available AP courses, and three districts (Benton, Ithaca, Pecatonica) want to begin offering them.

Last updated on 2/27/2006