Advanced Placement and the O'Donnell Foundation. Since 1990 the O'Donnell Foundation has sought to increase the number of students taking and passing Advanced Placement (AP) courses in math, English, and science by starting in middle school to prepare students to take and succeed in AP courses in high school. Teachers receive financial incentives for participating in College Board training sessions to teach AP courses. In the 5 years the program has been offered in nine public high schools in Texas' Dallas and Ellis Counties, the number of students taking AP exams in math, science, and English has steadily risen from only 48 students in the year before the program began to 1,099 students in the program's 5th year. Dramatic results have been rapidly achieved among populations traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education: in only one year of operation in nine Dallas public schools, the number of Hispanic and African American students taking AP exams rose from 64 to 400. Similar results have been achieved in the O'Donnell Foundation's incentive program for AP arts courses.
The Twenty-First Century Scholars Program. This Indiana program is designed to provide tuition and fees to Indiana students who might not otherwise attend college. To be eligible, students must meet the income guidelines, take the Twenty-first Century Scholars pledge in the 8th grade, and fulfill the requirements set by the Indiana General Assembly. Mentoring is an essential part of this program. In addition, all of Indiana's students and their families may call a toll-free hotline number for career and college information, freeing up guidance counselors to give more individualized assistance. If the student meets certain requirements, the student is eligible to receive tuition and fees to an Indiana postsecondary institution (as defined by Indiana law). Since 1994, the state's CORE 40, a college-prep and tech-prep curriculum, has laid out for students and counselors the courses that students must take to be considered for admission to Indiana's 4-year colleges. These courses are recommended to all students.
The Miami Valley Tech-Prep Consortium in Dayton, Ohio. This consortium includes eight vocational education planning districts at the secondary level; four joint vocational centers serving 67 high schools in seven western Ohio counties, which include both urban and rural sites; and one postsecondary institution. Students selected for Tech-Prep after the 10th grade attend a 2-year, full-day program in one of six occupational areas--applied health technologies, automotive technology, computer support technology, environmental science, electronic engineering technology, and industrial engineering technology. Tech-Prep students graduating from high school continue the second half of their Tech-Prep program at Sinclair Community College. The college has created several new degree programs as a result of its Tech-Prep involvement.
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