RIGOROUS
COURSEWORK
WCPSS
The District Team
Abby Stotsenberg, Sr. Administrator for HS Social
Studies
TBD, Sr. Administrator for HS ELA
Melissa Hurst, Sr. Administrator for MS ELA
Christina Zukowski, Sr. Administrator for MS Math
AP Capstone Leaders
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Your Name
Your School
Your Position
Why you are jazzed about being a leader of AP
Capstone and AP Expansion?
What is the initiative?
Goals
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Increase overall enrollment in Advanced Placement and
Honors courses
Create additional opportunities and strategically
sequence courses
Increase enrollment of underrepresented subgroups
Increase understanding, impact, and interest of
stakeholder groups
Partner with Holly Springs High School and Holly Ridge
Middle School to learn
Building the Pipeline
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Include AP Human Geography and AP Environmental
Science as entry level AP courses
Create a partnership with Meredith College to increase
AP professional development opportunities
Increase funding through RttT to train pipeline teachers
to vertically align our courses and purposefully build
the habits of mind and skills necessary for AP success
Use data to increase the percentage of students who
are taking honors level courses
Develop and support AP departments as a key
stakeholder group to lead and advance efforts
Building the Pipeline in Middle School
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Create recommendation guidelines to support
registration process
Develop a framework for increasing vertical
alignment from middle school to high school and
from elementary school to middle school
Develop strategies for increasing time devoted to
strategic math and reading instruction
Targeted work with Holly Ridge Middle School
AP Capstone as a Leverage Point
Improving student
literacy skills
Increasing
graduation rates
Decreasing subgroup
academic gaps
Training
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AP Summits- Breaking Down Barriers and Backmapping an
AP Program
AP Kickoff Event
Using AP Potential Reports- API and those who schedule as
the focus audience
Increasing AP participation- HS Principals target audience
English Vertical Alignment Training open to all high schools
Fall AP Workshop – one day annual event hosted by
WCPSS
AP Summer Institutes – week-long PD for teachers
Information from D&A
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Indicators of expansion:
1996-97 1 out of 15 WCPSS students took AP Exam; 2013
increased to 1 out of 7
 Since 2009-10 AP enrollments have increased by almost 30%
 White and Asian enrollment has increased, while Black/African
American and Hispanic/Latino has not increased
 Females account for proportionately more AP enrollments than
male counterparts
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Targeted Pilot Work of Holly Springs HS
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Strategic scheduling in Honors English I
Targeted recruitment for AP courses
Combined AP and Curriculum Nights
Incorporated AP Potential Letters
Developed an AP Department
Empowered staff to make recommendations for expansion of AP
Department
Increased number of teachers to strategically develop contentspecific PLTs
Planned vision and next-steps for AP Program through AP retreat
Movement towards seamless curricular articulation across grades
Outcomes of Targeted Work with
Holly Springs HS
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2011-12: 884 enrollments
2012-13: 1383 enrollments (AP test scores
remained constant)
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Increase of test takers:
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 Males
13.1%
 Black 71.4%
 Hispanic 13.6%
AP Potential Reports
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Driven by PSAT results from 10th grade
administration
Based on correlations from national test-taking pool
Correlations based on reading, writing, and
mathematics combinations appropriate to
designated AP courses
Aligned to rigors of Common Core State Standards
AP Potential at a WCPSS HS
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Looking At 10th grade students
Group
2012
Enrollment
60%
Threshold
30%
Threshold
Black/African
American
368
12
33
Hispanic or
Latino
243
9
19
AP CAPSTONE
AP Capstone
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Program of study that combines scholarly practice
with academic intensity
Seminar and research courses designed to enhance
student’s ability with all courses
Admissions officers are looking for ways to
distinguish between high achieving students
Programmatic approach allows students opportunity
to explore areas of interest and passion
AP Capstone
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Program of study to earn AP Capstone Diploma:
Seminar course and
 Research course and
 Students choose four AP courses in area(s) of interest
and score level 3 or higher on all AP exams
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Program of study to earn AP Seminar & Research
Certificate:
Seminar course and
 Research course
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AP Capstone
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Implementation in 6 WCPSS schools beginning with
2015-16 school year
Training and infrastructure development beginning
during 2014-15 school year
Summer training 2015 for Seminar and 2016 for
Research
Seminar courses are taught during the 2015-16
school year
Debrief the Webinar
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What were key points from the
webinar?
What questions do you have as a result
of the webinar?
Goals and Measureable Outcomes
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Take a moment to think about what and
how you may want to measure the
success of implementation
You may want to reference the
measuring up report in the agenda
Scheduling & PD
Who?
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When?
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Where?
How Long?
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Agreement of training topics for the
four days (Text Complexity, Argument
Writing, and Research Methods)
Dates for the Teacher Training- HS
Programs has budgeted funds to
provide four subs for each of the four
training dates- Yay!
Dates for the Leadership Meetings
(That’s you)
Planning: Loose & Tights
Planning Protocol