Jordan Tyler, a junior at Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy 6-12, knows the Advanced Placement course he took in calculus will help him in college.
"I found myself working harder than ever to be the best I can be," he said.
A $930,367 three-year grant from The Heinz Endowments is expected to make it possible for more city students to get that edge in science, math and English AP courses.
The grant, announced Tuesday at Pittsburgh Brashear High School, funds a partnership with the National Math and Science Initiative, a Dallas-based nonprofit organization that has been working to improve access to and quality of AP courses in 33 states. This is its first school district in Pennsylvania.
The grant applies to two schools, Brashear in Beechview and Sci-Tech in Oakland. The initiative will provide intensive training for AP teachers in science, math and English as well as teachers in pre-AP subjects, going down to sixth grade in Sci-Tech and sixth grade at South Hills 6-8, which feeds into Brashear.
Brashear has 11 AP courses and will add two this fall. Sci-Tech has two AP courses.
Sci-Tech won't be expanding the number of AP courses because of the nature of its specialty program, but its teachers in English, physics, computer science, biology and environmental science will be trained to prepare students for AP tests.
Combined, 38 students at both schools earned a score of at least 3 -- considered to be a qualifying score -- on AP exams in 2011-12. Results for 2012-13 aren't in yet, but the goal is to have 124 such scores in 2013-14, reaching 149 by 2015-16.
Jaclyn Castma, the district's project manager for AP and the International Baccalaureate program, said she thinks the effort to better prepare students before they reach AP classes in 11th and 12th grades will be a "game changer."
Dale Fleury, the initiative's senior director of programs, said the effort is "teacher focused," adding his organization has found "if a teacher is properly equipped, properly trained, the sky's the limit for these young people."
This summer, AP teachers will travel to Oklahoma for five days of training. Pre-AP teachers will have four days of training locally. There will be additional training the following two summers for the teachers who continue to teach AP or start teaching AP. During the school year, teachers will have two more days of training.
Ms. Castma estimated about 65 teachers will be involved.
About six weeks before the real AP exams, students will take practice tests, which will be graded by experienced scorers, and will receive feedback on what they need to work on. Teachers will receive additional training on how to address the students' needs.
The initiative also will bring in experts three times for Saturday workshops to help students review for the tests.
Each school will receive $35,000 for equipment, such as graphing calculators.
The grant also provides rewards for students and teachers. Students can earn $100 for each score of 3. Teachers earn $100 for each student who scores a 3. Teachers also can earn a $1,000 bonus if they meet certain enrollment and performance goals.
Ms. Castma said teachers will share what they've learned with AP teachers in other schools, as district AP teachers meet quarterly for training.
Three other high schools -- Pittsburgh Allderdice, CAPA 6-12 and Westinghouse -- have applied to the initiative. Ms. Castma hopes funders can be found later for them as well.
First Published: June 5, 2013, 5:00 a.m.
