Successfully closing the gap

By Thomas B. Pfankuch
Times-Union staff writer

Students who sit down to take an advanced placement exam in the Duval County schools have a year or, in some cases, only a semester of preparation for the college-level tests.

Students taking the same exams in the Richland II school system in Columbia, S.C., have been getting ready for at least four years.

The rigorous training begins in the middle schools and is part of an educational philosophy that has made Richland's advanced placement program a success.

In 1995, 76 percent of advanced placement students in Richland passed the exam to qualify for college credits. Last year, the percentage dipped to 68 percent, still far above the 47 percent of Duval County students who passed an advanced placement exam in 1996.

''You just can't create a strong advanced placement student overnight,'' said Barbara Gatlin, coordinator of academic instruction for Richland's 15,500 students. ''The background has to be there. The foundation has to be laid.''

Advanced placement courses are sponsored by the non-profit College Board and are offered in 10,000 high schools around the world. The classes culminate with a final exam that can qualify students for credits at most colleges, universities and technical schools.

This spring, the SchoolMatch consulting firm audited the Duval County schools and highlighted the district's advanced placement program as an area that needs improvement.

Most of the changes recommended by SchoolMatch for the Duval County schools are in place at the Richland district.

Both Duval County and Richland have inclusive admission policies that allow students into the classes on request of a teacher, parent or the students themselves.

Gatlin said the district begins preparing for the advanced placement program in the eighth grade by teaching its students how to study and analyze data. At the same time, the district begins identifying students who are having difficulty reading, writing and comprehending information.

The district also identifies its brightest students and provides them with more challenging coursework.

All advanced placement teachers in Richland are sent to a weeklong training seminar to learn advanced placement teaching methods, Gatlin said. Teachers must prove they are familiar with the advanced placement methods and curriculum before they teach, she said.

Advanced placement teachers also qualify for Richland's full tuition reimbursement program that encourages graduate-level training, she said.

The district also helps its advanced placement teachers apply for state and federal grants to create projects alone or with their students, Gatlin said.

The success rate on the advanced placement exams has ebbed slightly since the district began allowing any interested student into the classes, Gatlin said. But with a success rate as high as 85 percent recently, the advanced placement program in Richland II has prestige that keeps teachers and students committed, she said.

''The expectations of teachers in the classrooms are very high,'' Gatlin said.