April 20, 2017
JACKSON, Miss. – After a competitive process, the College Board, which administers the Advanced Placement (AP) Program, awarded 17 Mississippi teachers scholarships to cover the cost of a week-long professional development program. Nearly 1,700 teachers nationally applied to three competitive College Board AP Summer Institute Scholarship Programs.
The scholarships cover the cost of tuition – and in some cases, expenses – for the AP Summer Institute. Each year, the College Board offers these scholarships to help support schools and divisions that are committed to building their AP Program.
“Mississippi has made a commitment to ensure that all students with the potential to succeed in Advanced Placement are able to access those opportunities. Last year, throughout the state, more students participated in – and succeeded on – AP Exams than ever before,” said Cale Golden, director of K-12 state and district partnerships at the College Board. “The College Board AP Summer Institute scholarships will allow Mississippi teachers in rural communities to expand AP course offerings to their students. We strongly support the Mississippi Department of Education's vision of increasing Advanced Placement opportunities for all students.”
The College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT.
Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education, said the scholarships provide a great opportunity for both teachers and their students.
“These teachers were selected for the scholarships based on the quality of their applications. We greatly appreciate the College Board offering this opportunity for our teachers to improve their practices, and we are excited that this will lead to more students, who have traditionally been underserved, to have greater prospects for more rigorous coursework that will better prepare them for college,” she said.
The College Board offers the following scholarships for teacher training:
- AP Fellows – For teachers at schools with 50%+ underrepresented minority students and/or 50%+ low-income students; $1,000 toward tuition and expenses
- AP Rural Fellows – For teachers at schools designated as “rural” by the National Center for Education Statistics and with 50%+ low-income students; $1,500 toward tuition and expenses
- AP Capstone - Recipients must plan to teach AP Seminar or AP Research in the 2017-18 academic year and teach in a district with a median income of below $87,500 and/or in schools at which 50 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch.
Media Contact:
Patrice Guilfoyle, APR
Director of Communications
601-359-3706
Jean Cook, APR
Communications Specialist
601-359-3519