University Of Arkansas Expands Advanced Placement Summer Institute

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - 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 24-28 on the Fayetteville campus. The week-long, intensive program will feature 12 "super teachers" from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas who will provide innovative ideas including very specific less on plans that Advanced Placement and pre-AP teachers can use to instruct teachers on how to engage their students and help them 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," said Chancellor John A. White. The U of A accepts more AP credit than any other institution in the state of Arkansas, and heavily recruits students with AP credits.

The course will offer new materials not presented in last year’s institute, said Suzanne McCray, associate director of the honors program in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

The courses offered include biology, calculus A and B, chemistry, English language and composition, English literature, physics B and C, psychology and U.S. government. In addition, courses have been added in U. S. history, European history, pre-AP English and German.

Teachers who attend the week-long event will walk away with new tools to use in class, new experiments to try in laboratories and new books to examine for possible classroom use.

This year’s psychology class dissected sheep brains to learn more about how the brain works. And the physics class played with bowling balls to learn physical principles.

Administrators from schools offering Advanced Placement courses will also have an opportunity to learn at the Advanced Placement Administrator’s Day on July 24, McCray said. After an introductory plenary session with Chancellor John A. White, the administrators will learn about effective ways to build Advanced Placement programs, applying for prestigious scholarships, writing letters of recommendation and funding an Advanced Placement program.

The administrator’s day is free to principals or counselors at any schools who do not have established AP programs, or who seek to expand their AP program from one or two classes, McCray said.

"We want to encourage smaller schools to find out how to make their AP programs self-sufficient," McCray said, "And provide information to all schools on how to turn student accomplishment in an AP classroom into college admission and scholarship success."

The consultants include: Gary Earleywine, Wilbur D. Mills High School, Little Rock, biology; Benita Albert, Oak Ridge High School Oak Ridge, Tenn., calculus; Kathy Arno, McKinney High School, McKinney, Texas, chemistry; Debra McIntire, Yukon High School, Yukon, Okla., English language and composition; Doris Rutherford, Jacksonville High School, Jacksonville, English literature and composition; Dee Schulten, Jacksonville High School, Jacksonville, pre-AP English; Ted Curry, St. John’s High School, Houston, European history; Carolyn Thompson, Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas, German; Rudolph Gaedke, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, physics; Katherine Minter, Westwood High School, Austin, Texas, psychology; Orson Cook, St. John’s School and University of Houston Honors College, Houston, U.S. history; and Kay Raap, The Woodlands High School, The Woodlands, Texas, U.S. government.

The teachers will be housed in Gregson Hall. On-campus parking will be available. A $100 deposit is required from all applicants, but will be reimbursed following the institute sessions to those who attend. The remaining fee will be paid by the state for all AP teachers who attend the entire weeks events.

For information on registration, contact Suzanne McCray at (479) 575-2509, or smccray@comp.uark.edu.

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