A+ College Ready Announces the Addition of Statewide Individual Teacher Training Program

In the 2020-2021 school year, A+ College Ready, in partnership with the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE), will be piloting a new program that provides training to individual teachers across the state who are not currently affiliated with the full A+ College Ready Incentive Program. In its inaugural year, this program will serve 40 teachers from 32 high schools around the state with the goal of increasing rigor and improving student achievement in their classrooms. Teachers in the program teach in the following content areas: science, computer science, social studies, math, and English.

The Individual Training and Incentive Program (ITIP) is modeled after A+ College Ready’s Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program (information on this program provided below) that has dramatically increased student access and success in Advanced Placement math, science, English, social studies and Computer Science in Alabama in the past decade. The individual teacher program includes teacher training, teacher empowerment through equipment/materials/supplies, ongoing teacher support from A+ College Ready staff, and teacher and student incentives for qualifying scores on AP exams.

The goal of the individual teacher program is to increase access to A+ College Ready’s cutting-edge professional learning for teachers in schools that are not currently participating in the original AP training program. By expanding access to these tried-and-true resources, both A+ College Ready and the ALSDE are aiming to improve outcomes for participating teachers and their students. Teachers have begun training this summer in preparation for the full program implementation in Fall 2020.

TESTIMONIES FROM OUR PARTICIPANTS

“I believe that the ITIP program will provide me with the tools and training that will allow me to teach AP Calculus with confidence and skill. I want to be an exceptional Advanced Placement teacher – a teacher who can lead each one of my students to fully achieve his/her mathematical potential. I believe that the ITIP program, along with my passion, hard work and love for students, will go a long way in molding me into the teacher that I aspire to be.”

–  Cindy Faith, Satsuma High School, AP Calculus

 

“Three years from now, I hope my planning and instructional strategies will be sharpened and I will have achieved mastery over the content. Skills will be scaffolded and students will have access to a breadth and depth of texts that they would not have been able to access before joining ITIP.”

– Kaitlin Campbell, ACCEL Academy, AP Literature

 

“I applied for the ITIP program to gain the experience and skills to recruit and support underrepresented students in my AP classroom.  My goal was to find ways to motivate, challenge and support each student, and find ways to remove any barriers to my AP course. The first step to doing so was to admit my classroom demographics did not match the demographics of my school. The next step was to find ways to make a change. I believe the ITIP program will provide what I need to promote a shift, for myself and my school, away from the “gate keeper” mentality that often is associated with AP classes.”

– Alyse Brewer, Huntsville High School, AP Environmental Science

 

“I am confident that this program will give the resources and support I need to grow a thriving  computer science program that represents ALL who wish to learn. The summer training has already proved itself to be unmatched in quality. Every A+CR professional development I’ve ever been a part of has been immediately beneficial to my classroom.”

– Daniel Paul, LAMP High School, AP Computer Science

 

“Anytime that I can make the course more accessible to my students is a win for all of us.  ITIP truly has a wealth of resources, and the presenters are always the best and most current in our business.  This is incredibly helpful to me to know how to learn the best tricks of the trade to share with my students.”

– Sarah Love, Spain Park High School, AP Language

PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS

The 32 schools who are participating in this pilot program are:

ACCEL Academy
Alabama School of Fine Arts
Albertville High School
Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering
Austin High School
Baker High School
Brookwood High School
Calera High School
Carroll High School
Chickasaw High School
Cullman High School
Cybertechnology School
Decatur High School
Fairhope High School
Hartselle High School
Huntsville High School
Kate Duncan Smith DAR High School
LAMP High School
Leeds High School
Mortimer Jordan High School
New Century High School
Park Crossing High School
Pisgah High School
Prattville High School
Robertsdale High School
Satsuma High School
Shades Valley High School
Southside High School
Spain Park High School
Thompson High School
Wetumpka High School
Winston County High School