ExxonMobil-funded program credited with expansion of AP at capital region high schools

 

Educational leaders from throughout the capitol region converged on Woodlawn High School Monday to highlight a $13 million ExxonMobil grant they credit with dramatically increasing the number of high school students in the state who take and pass college-level courses in math, science and English.

The energy giant has teamed with the Dallas-based nonprofit National Math and Science Initiative to supercharge Louisiana’s participation and success in Advanced Placement, an historic area of weakness for the Pelican state. Students who earn 3, 4 and 5s on AP exams are awarded college credit at many colleges and universities.

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Highlight: NMSI on Monday released an analysis showing that schools participating the College Readiness Program are driving much of the recent growth in both AP participation and success in Louisiana.

NMSI paid special attention to increases in the number of students in Louisiana public high schools who earned 3s or above on AP exams, on a scale of 1 to 5. In 2016-17, those students passed a total of 27,141 AP exams. That’s 948 more than during the previous school year. NMSI found that the 13 schools that started using its College Readiness Program in 2016-17 accounted for more than half of those additional passing scores.

NMSI found that "underrepresented groups” at those 13 schools enjoyed particularly strong growth on this measure: 51 percent growth among females, 65 percent among African-American students and 83 percent among Latino students.