A Record 300 Teachers to Attend University of Arkansas Advanced Placement Summer Institute

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For the fifth straight year, the University of Arkansas has expanded its summer program that allows Advanced Placement secondary school teachers to return to school and learn. This year's Advanced Placement Summer Institute will be held July 21-25 on the Fayetteville campus and a record 300 teachers will be in attendance. The week-long, intensive program will feature 15 "super teachers" from Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas who will instruct teachers on how to help student get the most out of their Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

"Advanced Placement is essential to our mission of recruiting and retaining the state's high ability students," Chancellor John A. White said. "The U of A accepts more AP credit than any other institution in the state of Arkansas, and heavily recruits students with AP credits. We know that students coming in with Advanced Placement credit will thrive in the college classroom. They will have more freedom to include second and even third majors. They have more flexibility when studying abroad and more time for undergraduate research. The University of Arkansas is excited about partnering with teachers across the state and region to increase these important opportunities for our young people."

"Each year our institute includes new consultants, new texts, new lab experiments, new materials and information so teachers can return to our campus year after year and always learn fresh, compelling methods of engaging their students in the materials." said Suzanne McCray, Associate Dean of the Honors College and the institute’s director.

"The public is increasingly aware of what AP can do for students preparing for college," McCray said. "Recently, Newsweek published an article listing the best high schools in the country. How did they decide? By the number of students in the school who took AP exams. Mills University High School in Little Rock was listed in the top 50, and other Arkansas high schools were recognized."

An example of the impact the AP program has on the U of A high ability recruitment can be seen in the 60 students who received the U of A Honors College Fellowship (a $50,000 award for four years) last year. These students brought in a total of 591 hours of Advanced Placement credit.

AP is also a good predictor on how well students will compete at the national level. Each year, the University of Arkansas can nominate four students for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, the premier national scholarship for undergraduates in science, engineering, and mathematics. This spring, the U of A nominated Leremy Colf (St. George, Utah), Diane Dunn (Douglasville, Georgia), Matt Lohse (Fort Smith, Arkansas), and Ashley Altom (Mount Ida, Arkansas). These students are from various locales and have a variety of majors. However, all four had one factor in common - they had taken advantage of Advanced Placement courses while in high school, compiling a total of 95 hours of credit, and now they are all Barry Goldwater Scholars.

For the last two years, state funding to support AP teachers attending summer institutes has been substantially reduced, and it is the first year that Oklahoma no longer pays for its teachers to attend AP summer programs outside the state. "This year, we could only provide support for 100 Advanced Placement from Arkansas--that coupled with Oklahoma’s new policy made us very worried that we would not be able to maintain our usual numbers of about 200 teachers."

"Richelle Stafne, our program’s associate director, has done a terrific job, keeping teachers informed about course offerings," McCray said. "She has created an AP Web site and keeps in touch by phone and on e-mail. The teachers have been eager to return, and they are bringing their colleagues with them. During a year when should be down, we are up by 100 teachers."

"Ordering thousands of textbooks and making sure they are in the right place, arranging for housing and setting up roommates--that kind of attention to detail can be tedious at times, but it makes for an overall good experience for the teachers," Stafne said. "When they arrive, it is all worth it. They are enthusiastic, eager to learn and generous spirited. It’s very encouraging to know that Arkansas has high ability teachers as well as high ability students."

The courses offered include biology, calculus AB, chemistry, computer science, English language and composition, English literature, Pre-AP high school English, Pre-AP middle school English, Pre-AP high school math, Pre-AP middle school math, Pre-AP science, psychology, statistics, U.S. history, and government and politics.

Consultants include Becky Cox, Fayetteville High School, Fayetteville, AR; Candace Smalley, Westmoore High School, Austin, TX; Debbie Bilyeu, Greenland High School, Greenland, AR; Dee Schulten, Jacksonville High School, Jacksonville, AR; Diane Catron, Sante Fe Preparatory School, Sante Fe, NM; Elizabeth Mayberry, The John Cooper School, The Woodlands, TX; Eugene Chase, Edmond North High School, Edmond, OK; Katherine Minter, Westwood High School, Austin, TX; Kathy Heller, Lakewood Middle School, North Little Rock, AR; Linda Gann, Sandra Day O'Connor High School, Helotes, TX; Michael Landrum, Midland Sr. High School, Midland, TX; Michael McLaughlin, Edmond North High School, Edmond, OK; Robert Cole, Round Rock High School, Round Rock, TX; Sherry Fowlks, Franklin Youth Academy Tulsa, OK.