To improve academic achievement at all levels in city public schools, Philadelphia School District officials have initiated numerous plans in the last year.
One of these initiatives involves spreading and improving the Advanced Placement program in high schools.
Over the last year, the number of high schools offering AP classes has almost tripled, jumping from 17 to 47 out of the 52 high schools in the district. Schools already offering advanced classes have also begun to expand their programs, offering new courses to accommodate students with different interests.
The number of students enrolled in AP classes has seen a similar increase this year, up to 3,300 from approximately 900 students last year.
Up until these additions, most AP courses were taught at magnet high schools -- schools that have admissions standards and try to attract high-quality students -- while other schools did not offer them.
However, officials hope to start "as many gifted programs as possible within middle, elementary and high schools," district representative Cameron Kline said.
Funding for these changes comes from a $3.5 million portion of a larger stipend given to the district to help improve education. With this money, district officials hope to improve "materials and training," as well as enroll "more students into the programs," Kline said.
Through these initiatives, the district hopes to increase the academic achievements of its students, improve quality of instructors and make the district more appealing to other students.
"We want to make the schools more attractive by providing more options," Chief Executive Officer of the district Paul Vallas said in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Kline added that with these funds, officials hope to "build infrastructure to not just support AP classes, but to evolve classroom instruction so more students can become eligible."
Officials seem optimistic about results so far, but some feel that improvements like this should have come sooner.
"This should have been done years ago," Philadelphia Federation of Teachers spokeswoman Barbara Goodman said. The AP program "should never have been cut in the first place," Goodman added.
However, these initiatives are welcomed by the federation, and Goodman hopes that they will help to "open doors for students at all levels, not just the gifted" because some students are "excited" by certain subjects and bored by others.
The expansion of AP programs to new high schools is not the only reform officials plan to make to improve education in the district. In fact, the expansion of the AP program "comes from a larger reform effort" to improve "options on all parts of the spectrum," Kline said.
Recently, the district also implemented its "first kindergarten-to-eighth grade curriculum for math and reading, started a very comprehensive teaching and recruitment program, reduced class size in district schools and recruit[ed] teacher coaches for teachers," Kline said.
In addition, construction will begin on Monday as part of a $1.5 billion capital improvement plan started by the district to both improve and build new facilities for schools.
