Although Jaquay Coates has been taking honors courses since he was an 8th-grader at Lawrence Middle School, he is the first to admit that he could not see himself making the leap to Advanced Placement
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Although Jaquay Coates has been taking honors courses since he was an 8th-grader at Lawrence Middle School, he is the first to admit that he could not see himself making the leap to Advanced Placement courses at Lawrence High School.
Part of it was peer pressure from the Lawrence High School senior’s childhood friends. Jaquay said he did not want to look like a “nerdy kid,” but he also did not want to turn down the chance to challenge himself academically.
”At the time, I took everything to heart,” Jaquay said. “A lot of my friends could (have been) enrolled in honors or Advanced Placement courses. They had the grades, but they did not see themselves in those classes. I didn’t see myself in those classes, but I did it, anyway.”
Jaquay enrolled in an Advanced Placement calculus course as a high school junior.
This year, he has enrolled in another Advanced Placement calculus course, as well as Advanced Placement courses in statistics and language and composition. He plans to major in math and music education in college.
Aury Cifuents, like Jaquay, was looking for a challenge. She enrolled at Lawrence High School after her parents, who were born in Guatemala, moved their family from Trenton to Lawrence in search of a better high school education for their daughter.
But it wasn’t until one of Aury’s teachers recommended her for an Advanced Placement course in U.S. history that she made the jump from regular college-prep courses to the more academically challenging college-level courses.
“I like history,” Aury said, adding that she asked herself why shouldn’t she take an accelerated course in which she could learn more. She said she did not know what Advanced Placement courses would be like, but she took it on. Doubt “goes away” when one can demonstrate proficiency in a course, she added. “My parents expect the best. When I get Advanced Placement homework, I tell them I have ‘college homework.’ You have to put in 110-percent effort. It’s harder classes. It took me out of my comfort zone,” said Aury, who has taken Advanced Placement courses in science, economics and English.The two 12th-graders are among the growing number of minority students at Lawrence High School who have been encouraged to take Advanced Placement courses. The effort has earned the Lawrence Township Public School District a place on the College Board’s 4th annual Advanced Placement District Honor Roll — one of 477 school districts in the United States and Canada to earn such recognition.
The school district was honored for its attempts to increase students’ access to Advanced Placement coursework, while also maintaining or increasing the number of students overall earning scores of 3 or higher on Advanced Placement exams.
Reaching these goals indicates the Lawrence Township Public School District is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are likely to benefit from the more rigorous Advanced Placement courses, school district officials said.The school district offers 20 Advanced Placement courses in English literature and composition, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, music theory, economics, physics, studio art, government, politics, U.S. and world history, biology, chemistry, statistics and calculus.
School district officials said that 153 Lawrence High School students took Advanced Placement courses in 2013, which is a 23-percent increase since 2011.
Minority students accounted for eight percent of the students who took Advanced Placement tests in 2013, which is a 1-percent increase over two years. All of the minority students scored a “3” or better on the exams in 2013, which is a 33-percent increase over two years, school district officials said. The tests are graded from 1 to 5, and a score of 3 is needed to earn college credit.The Advanced Placement District Honor Roll award by the College Board “is a great award to be a part of,” said Lawrence High School Principal Jonathan Dauber. “I think it speaks well of our attempt to serve all children — not to let anything hold them back.”
The Lawrence Township Public School District prides itself on its diversity, Mr. Dauber said.
There are students from all walks of life, socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicity, and from all parts of the township who are enrolled at Lawrence High School, he said.”Part of our responsibility is to recognize (the students’) potential,” Mr. Dauber said. “There is an element of personalization (and) of getting to know the students and what they are capable of doing so they don’t fall through the cracks — the students who need to get to another place.”
”I know some students with potential who are not pushing themselves. We want our guidance counselors to look at the students who have done well and tell them that ‘you can do it. Put your foot on the accelerator,’” he said.The teachers play a role in recommending students for Advanced Placement courses, Mr. Dauber said. The teachers see the students every day and know what the students can do. The teachers have input and make recommendations for Advanced Placement courses, and the guidance counselors “make it happen,” he said.
Students are told that if they are ready to take an Advanced Placement course, they should do so, he said. They are also told that they are going to struggle and that if they are not struggling, then the chances are they are not growing. To struggle is to grow.
”We want to get the most out of the students. We want to make sure they get the most out of high school experience and walk out after four years of high school, learning as much academically and socially so they will be prepared (for life after high school),” Mr. Dauber said.