North Cook News

The Evanston Township High School Board of Education received an update on the district's Advanced Placement Program and how it is helping students succeed during the board's Jan. 17 meeting.

The board has put a focus on bringing AP opportunities to the district's students as a part of a more equitable curriculum. AP Program Representative Dale Leibforth told the board that the goal of an AP course is to have a student gain the knowledge to pass an AP exam, thereby earning college credit. In addition, an AP course could save a student more than $900 in college tuition fees at a fraction of the cost for the $90 test. 

The district has a program called Team ASAP, which stands for Team Access and Success in Advanced Placement, a group that works with teachers and students in the AP curricula to ensure best practices and outcomes, he said. The team approach involves regular meetings and support systems that start before the student begins the more rigorous AP coursework. This program helps students learn about the ways AP and other classes help them get ahead in college, as well as how to ensure their college accepts the credits.

"Team ASAP has, as you know, a series of supports for students as they take these really difficult Advanced Placement classes," Leibforth said. "We want to ensure that students are aware of the courses, that they're ready for the courses they're getting into, and that the access is there for all students and that they're ultimately successful in the courses once they take them. So before they even enter into an AP class, there's a full year of supports."

Students who pass AP exams are increasingly likely to earn a college degree within four years of high school, meaning increased earning potential in their careers, Leibforth said.

The district has grown from 872 AP test scores of a 3 or higher in 2007 to 1,462 scores of 3 or higher in 2022, a 67% increase, Leibforth said. In addition,  there were 899 scores of 4 or higher last year. The district also had a higher percentage of scores of 3 or above than the national average. 

The district started working shortly after the 2007 round of AP test scores to "really ramp up their program," Leibforth said, and since then access to AP exams in the district has risen by 124%.

More than half of the the 11th and 12th graders take at least one AP exam, Leibforth said. The school had four "big ticket" AP classes in which more than 100 students earned a above 3 on the exam. Those were English Language and Composition (244), Psychology (172), U.S. History (157), and Literature and Composition (113), Leibforth told the board.

"AP is a head start," Leibforth said in summary.

More courses are going to be offered in the future, Leibforth said, such as Calculus and African American Studies.