Huntington Awarded Virtual AP Grant
The Huntington School District has landed a State Education Dept. grant for nearly $350,000 to improve access to online and blended Advanced Placement courses for low-income students.
The large grant was announced as part of SED's launch of its virtual learning initiative, which is funded with $17.3 million in federal Race to the Top program funds.
Huntington, which was awarded $348,763, was among a small group of districts receiving grants. SED Commissioner John B. King, Jr. said the virtual AP initiative is part of the Board of Regents' strategy to ensure that all New York students graduate from high school ready for college and careers.
"New York already has a good percentage of students taking AP classes and tests," Dr. King said. "But, unfortunately, low-income students don't always get the chance to take AP courses, and those courses are crucial for admission to and success in college."
The awards were made to several large systems, including the New York City public schools, the Buffalo and Rochester city school districts, Yonkers, a consortia of districts led by various BOCES units and five smaller districts, including Huntington to develop online and blended courses, which combine online and traditional classroom instruction. The 18-month grants will also provide professional development for teachers learning to teach these courses.
"Huntington's participation rates on Advanced Placement exams have increased over the past three years for a majority of our student population," the district's grant application states. "However, the increases have not materialized for our economically disadvantaged and racial minority students. It is our belief that with targeted interventions aimed at our middle school students and alternatives to in-class AP courses, we may be able to increase our participation rates for all of our students equally."
Huntington envisions developing a Virtual AP (VAP) program that will provide flexible options at J. Taylor Finley Middle School and Huntington High School in order to meet the diverse educational needs of students and their families.
"The program will offer equal access to online courses for students who might not be able to take Advanced Placement and core academic classes that build student capacity to participate in the VAP program," according to the district's grant application. Huntington believes the state grant will allow the district to develop a program that will provide opportunities to students who would not otherwise take AP courses because of scheduling conflicts with other classes.
"New York is a national leader in the use of federal Race to the Top funds to provide high quality, college level courses using available technologies," Dr. King said. "VAP will open the door to virtual classrooms that will let students take courses on their own schedule and learn at their own pace. We want every student to be ready for college and careers, not just those who live in districts that can afford to offer AP classes."
SED said the grants can also be used for other activities including the purchase of needed technology resources to register and track student enrollment and performance on AP courses, computers for students to access the courses and support for the cost of AP exams taken at the end of the course.
The Huntington School District expects to administer more than 830 Advanced Placement exams to its students next May, an increase of about 200 tests over last year.