Lack of AP Courses Holds Rural Students Back
06/16/2008
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 The percentages of students, Class of 2007, There is an achievement gap between students in rural and non-rural schools, and it's due, in significant part, to unequal course offerings -- with effects that extend long past graduation. One third of all U.S. schools are rural; twenty-one percent of public school students are enrolled at rural campuses. Though rural/small town high school graduation rates are higher than those in urban areas, according to the U.S. Department of Education, rural grads are less likely to go on to college. The National Education Association has found that a greater proportion of students in rural public schools are "low-performing." But why? A report in Education Week found that a major difference between rural and non-rural student performance is that so many rural schools lack Honors courses and Advanced Placement (AP) curricula. Both Honors and AP courses are considered college-preparatory; in fact, a student who completes an AP class, then takes the AP test and scores 3 or higher usually obtains college credit for high school course work. It makes sense that students who’ve been exposed to college-level academics in high school will be more likely to seek higher education and to succeed at college. Daily Yonder compared the proportion of students who took the Advanced Placement Test in two sets of states, one more heavily rural, and the other primarily urban. (The rural states: Alabama, Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The urban states: California, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Texas.) The table above shows the percentage of each state's public high school students (class of 2007) that took at least one AP Exam. Differences are striking. Each rural state shows AP testing rates far below the national average (24.9%), while every urban state except New Jersey exceeded the national average. Public school students in Maryland and New York were six times more likely to be studying for Advanced Placement (and thus have college prospects) than were students in Louisiana.
Even the College Board, which administers both the SAT test and AP program, has recognized the lack of Advanced Placement in rural schools. Rosyn Sandy profiled the Mary Walker School District in Springdale, Washington, a small rural district where, according to the school counselor, "Poverty, geographic isolation, and lack of academic confidence erode our students' sense of possibilities." Even so, the district has instituted AP, opening college prep classes "to all students who wanted to accept the challenge." The College Board suggests a Pre-AP strategy to boost academic rigor. If students are not challenged prior to their freshman high school year, success in AP courses is unlikely. Through "vertical teaming," teachers of a core subject, such as English, work together to prepare students for Advanced Placement classes. Teams include both high school teachers and teachers from middle schools that feed into the high school. Further, district support is necessary for AP success in rural schools. School districts must invest in AP by paying for teachers to attend training sessions during the summer. District-wide, parents and students will be more likely to back programs that the local school administration has endorsed. There are other ways for students to take AP courses -- through online programs such as Apex Learning. However, instituting college preparatory work in rural high schools can do more than benefit college-bound students. It has the potential to reshape rural education by upgrading standards and changing expectations.
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Comments
rural education
Thank you for recognizing the gap. I pastor a church in rural Tennessee in an area where most kids don't even consider college an option. Part of the problem seems to be cultural. Many of the parents will not encourage their children to aspire to anything greater than they themselves have accomplished. There is an unhealthy pride in just living to survive. Since poverty is somewhat widespread here the cycle of poverty just perpetuates itself.
Resource constraints
To be fair, we should acknowledge that many rural schools and districts face pretty serious resource constraints. Declining tax bases; eroding infrastructure; small staffs; and competing local, state, and federal initiatives and priorities make affording AP a real challenge for many places. As with much in life, the *will* to do something is important--but many schools simply don't have the money for an "extra" like AP. I think the underlying issue has to do with equity. If we (as in, the political collective) really believed in educational equity, we'd make sure that rural schools didn't suffer resource constraints by virtue of their remoteness or lower local tax bases.
Rural Achievement
In the 1980s, we lived in a rural Minnesota county where there were no gifted-and-talented nor AP opportunities. Nothing. Our taxes were just as high as those in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area where over half of the state population lived. The benefits of those rural taxes always seemed to be funneled into the metropolitan schools rather than in outer-Minnesota. Luckily, teachers did what they could and I would never fault those teachers who perform literal miracles with so few resources! Our gifted-and-talented child who had become a behavioral problem in the classroom (simply because he was bored!) was recognized by his teacher. She knew a retired teacher who volunteered to meet with our son one afternoon each week when the two would go into the school library together to research and discuss whatever topic our son chose. In the end, this became his "saving grace". We later moved to another state where the opportunities were more fairly distributed. As the very proud parent, I must brag that he then later not only became a National Merit Scholar taking honors and AP coursework but also went onto accomplishing 3-subject majors in 4 years at a state public university and an honors graduate of Georgetown Law in D.C.. While some rural areas are perpetually struggling with underfunding for much needed programs, sometimes decisions for revenue spending comes from the states. God bless the teachers who can "creatively" find ways to engage their students with such limited budgets...and often, sadly, limited public encouragement! "No Child Left Behind" SHOULD be left behind!!! School districts MUST be given the resources, tools, and staffing they NEED to even the playing field for both rural and urban students. No democracy in the history of the world has survived for long once the investment and support of a universal, solid PUBLIC education declined. It's a lesson not taught in either rural nor urban history classes . . .