A+ College Ready Partners with Impact Alabama to Offer CollegeFirst

A+ College Ready partnered with the non-profit Impact Alabama to put on the CollegeFirst Summer Enrichment program for three weeks in June 2010. Rising AP students in Biology, Calculus, and Chemistry studied AP course material the summer before classes began in the fall. Through lectures from skilled AP teachers and lab exercises with undergraduate-level tutors, these students gained early exposure to the college-level coursework that AP offers.

Two CollegeFirst programs were held, one in Birmingham and one in Huntsville, hosted by the University of Alabama-Birmingham and the University of Alabama-Huntsville. In addition to getting early experience with undergraduate-level science and math material, the students heard lectures and performed labs in actual UAB and UAH classrooms and laboratories.

The CollegeFirst program aims to connect high school students and teachers with university coursework and resources. Experienced AP teachers from A+ College Ready’s program schools taught the students during the CollegeFirst program; in addition, Impact Alabama recruited undergraduate-level tutors from the University of Alabama, UAB, Birmingham Southern College, and UAH to enhance the students’ learning by doing labs, exercises, and games with the new material. Most of these tutors earned college-credit for a service-learning course that presents some of the problems and solutions in educational reform.

The students also had the opportunity to hear from professionals in the community, recruiters from universities in the state and education leaders, during lunch-time presentations. The program was made possible by a generous $50,000 grant from the Birmingham law firm Maynard Cooper & Gale, P.C., allowing the program to be free of charge to students.

A+ College Ready will be following these CollegeFirst students through their AP classes in the 2010-11 school year to track the effect of the summer enrichment program on their success in AP.