With the addition of Smiths Station High School into the Advanced Placement Training and Inventive Program, students will have a monetary motive to heed the 8 a.m. bell. Smiths Station, along with 20 other high schools, was chosen to participate in the program to increase the amount of advanced placement courses in math, science and English offered by the schools. The funding for the initiative is the result of a public-private partnership that includes $1.3 million this year from the state, a $13.2 million grant from the National Math and Science Initiative and additional matching funds from private donors, according to a press release from Governor Bob Riley's office. The program offers incentives for both teachers and students.
For every score of three, four or five earned on an AP exam, students will receive $100, said Jason Yohn, principal of Smiths Station High School.
"We hope to make it so enticing," said Darren Douthitt, assistant superintendent of secondary curriculum, "that not only the administrators and teachers, but the students and parents, start requesting these opportunities." The grant came as a collaborative effort between the Alabama initiative and the A+ College ready initiative, Yohn said. The A+ College Ready program is intended to bring college level course work through advanced placement to underserved areas and underserved populations, said Tommy Bice, deputy state superintendent. When Yohn took over as principal there were only two advanced placement classes at Smiths Station--both used more for dual enrollment purposes.
"I want our kids to be able to compete with kids from all schools across the state, especially in the Southeast," Yohn said, "and you can't do that with two classes." Smiths Station has added five more advanced placement classes and is looking to add two more next year with the help of the initiative, Yohn said. "I want to pursue adding more AP courses that are not involved in this grant, arts and foreign languages," Yohn said. "I want us to build 15 AP programs in the next few years." Douthitt said he thinks that the money being provided to Smiths Station will go a long way toward bringing the rigor back to the high school's curriculum.
"This will be an opportunity for Smiths Station to model what ought to exist in every high school on some level," Douthitt said. "The impact of this program will be felt over the next 10 to 15 years if it continues and if we can sustain it." Making students aware of how beneficial taking AP courses can be is something that will be very important to the success of the programs, Yohn said. "We are trying to stretch the curriculum into the junior high to have a vertical alignment," Yohn said, "so when our kids get here in ninth grade they are fully aware of the path they can take into that aspect." Bice said he thinks the grant will help Smiths Station act as a model for the other schools in Lee County and the surrounding areas.
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