SVVSD hosts 'AP for All' teacher workshops

Jul. 14—Close to 200 educators are at Erie High School this week learning how to become better advanced placement teachers and to create more inclusive classrooms.

The Colorado Education Initiative is partnering with St. Vrain Valley Schools to host the 11th annual AP for All Summer Institute. The College Board-certified institute was held virtually during the last two years because of the pandemic.

"AP can be for everybody," said College Board consultant Jacqueline Stallworth, an AP English teacher at a high school near Washington, D.C. "Any teacher can make it inclusive, if they're willing to do that work."

St. Vrain Valley has been recognized by the College Board for an increase in overall participation, participation of students of color and growth in AP exam scores. In the past five years, overall AP student enrollment increased by 43%, to more than 5,400 students. The number of Hispanic and Black students taking AP exams also rose.

"We encourage teachers to encourage kids to take that risk," said Erie High Principal Matt Buchler, who is retiring.

This week's sessions cover more than a dozen AP subjects. There's also a Capstone Summer Institute to help teachers with AP seminar and research classes.

In a Wednesday session for AP biology teachers, presenter Kelcey Burris talked about teaching his first AP class more than 20 years ago in an environment where the only focus was producing high test scores. Students who didn't score well on sample AP tests given at the start of the class were encouraged to drop the class, he said.

"It was not fun to teach in that realm," said Burris, a College Board consultant and high school teacher in Washington.

Now, he said, teachers should give any student willing to try the option to take an AP classes, with a goal of having advanced classes mirror the same diversity as the school's lunchroom.

As he talked about recruiting and supporting students, the teachers shared the challenges at their schools. Those included a school that depends on teachers to encourage students of color to try advanced classes to one where it's mainly the students in honors classes who are moved into AP classes.

Nick Cashman, who teaches at a private international school in China, pointed to a study that shows students who try AP classes are more likely to be successful in college, even if they don't score well on the AP tests.

"I tell students it's not about the score," he said. "It's not about the grade. You're here. You're trying."

Burris shared his grading system, which he modified from a "pointless" system used by an AP science teacher at Boulder's Fairview High School. While Burris continues to assign grades, he gives answer keys for all assignments other than tests and allows students to suggest the grade they should earn in the class — though he requires them to provide evidence through a journal to justify the grade.

"They know it's about the learning, not just getting it done," he said.

During the institute, presenters shared resources and taught mini lessons, from asking teachers to try a writing assignment to having them do lab work.

College Board consultant and Connecticut high school teacher Fred Vital showed AP chemistry teachers how to create a ball of fire as a class demonstration. He heated a vial of candle of wax to boiling, then rapidly cooled it over ice. The wax releases enough energy as it returns to a solid form to produce a flash of flame, he said.

"You need energy to break things apart, not to put them together," he said. "That can be a hard concept. This is a way to get kids to remember it."

He said he wants to help teachers become more confident in their understanding of chemistry, as well as to share activity ideas that he's found effective in his classroom.

"I want to help students learn more about science," he said. "They're not all going to be chemistry majors. We want to create citizens who are scientifically literate."

Participants ranged from veteran teachers looking for new ideas to those who are teaching AP classes for the first time.

Jessica Butte, an Erie Middle School teacher who is moving to Erie High to teach AP and regular chemistry in the fall, wanted a refresher on high school chemistry and ideas on how to help prepare her students for the AP exam.

Along with getting a refresher on the class content, she said, she appreciated the opportunity to network with other AP chemistry teachers and the help with navigating the College Board systems. Plus, she said, it's fun to try the same labs as students.

"I get to help kids learn chemistry, and I get to learn more at the same time," she said.