In February 2012, the College Board published The 8th Annual AP Report to the Nation. This session provides a deeper dive into key information for the United States with an emphasis on Florida, and participants hear how one school in Florida utilizes AP Potential™ to help build their AP Program. Participants also learn about AP participation and…

We use panel data on Florida high school students to examine race, poverty, and gender disparities in advanced course-taking. While white students are more likely to take advanced courses than black and Hispanic students, these disparities are eliminated when we condition on observable pre-high school characteristics. In fact, black and Hispanic…

Nearly 7,000 students drop out of the nation's public high schools each school day, and 3,000 of them are in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states. Altogether, an estimated 1.3 million teenagers in the United States abandon high school each year without earning a diploma. In 1,700 of the nation's high schools, less than 60 percent of…

Pressing Forward: Increasing and Expanding Rigor and Relevance in America's High Schools is organized to place secondary education, specifically the goals of preparing young adults to be college and career ready, in contemporary perspective, emphasizing the changing global economy and trends in policy and practice. High school students must be…

In fall 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded a three-year project (IB Access Project) with International Baccalaureate (IB) to increase participation of minority students and students in poverty in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP). The IB Access Project seeks to do four things: (1) Improve teacher practice…

Dr. Paul Dosal of the University of South Florida is not impressed with the way most high school students learn about Latin American history. Dosal believes an advanced placement course in the subject will change that. He's the executive director of ENLACE Florida, a statewide network funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, designed to increase the…

Implementation of an honors program is carefully explained, including course content, evaluation, and helpful suggestions for administrators contemplating similar programs. The need for such programs is apparent as high schools are sending to college students who have been involved in advanced, accelerated, or enriched classes and who are…

Researchers conducted two studies in Broward County (Fla.) Public Schools. The first study examined the utility of the Preliminary SAT (PSAT) for predicting future success on college entrance examinations and in advanced placement (AP) courses. The second examined the relationship between PSAT scores and subsequent year AP enrollment status for…

Data from Florida high schools indicate that the original purpose of student acceleration, to accomplish traditional academic objectives faster, has shifted toward curricular increahment. Discussion and tables illustrate how advanced placement, dual enrollment, and early admission have evolved during the 1978-84 years. (5 references) (MLF)

Policymakers and education leaders in Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states have been working since 2002 to meet all 12 "Challenge to Lead" Goals for Education. At the same time, SREB states have had to struggle with the toughest economic challenges in decades. Even so, SREB states have succeeded in achieving many of the goals…

Continuing professional development is an important activity for most teachers in the K-12 system, and it is even required of some teachers in order to maintain certification (Maldonado, 2002). Professional development programs are predicated on the assumption that the teachers who receive the training will in turn positively affect student…

Information on Florida public education student acceleration programs is contained in this 1974 report to the legislature, compiled by the Florida State Department of Education. There are six means used in Florida schools to fulfill the legislative mandate to provide time-shortened educational programs at all levels of the educational system: (1)…

Teaching from a global perspective is important because the lives of people around the world are increasingly interconnected through politics, economics, technology, and the environment. Global education teaches students to understand and appreciate people from different cultural backgrounds; view events from a variety of perspectives; recognize…

For teaching gifted and other high-ability learners, the idea that understanding is more significant than knowing is nearly a no-brainer. Teachers are continuously looking for ways to raise the intellectual bar through classroom challenges that push these learners to extend beyond the factual knowledge base that is often the measuring stick of…

This second annual report to the Florida Legislature and the State Board of Education reviews the reasons for student acceleration programs, the methods of acceleration, and the financial implications of time-shortened degree programs. Statistical data are provided on the number of Florida high school and postsecondary students taking advantage of…