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Saugus High School Advanced Placement teacher Krista Hoey and four area colleagues are being honored by a national organization for their dedication to boosting students’ chances at college success.
Hoey, along with Peabody Veterans Memorial High School Advanced Placement (AP) teachers Richard Gill, Michael Porciello and Brooke Wilmot and Lynnfield resident Brad Gelling, who teaches AP calculus at Malden High School, were picked to receive Mass Insight Education’s Partners in Excellence Award.
The five teachers will be honored at an April 5 awards celebration where they will each receive a check for $1,000.
“The teachers Mass Insight supports in AP partnerships across the state are the backbone of the schools role in preparing students for college success,” says William Guenther, president, CEO and founder of Mass Insight Education. “We’re very pleased to recognize the AP teacher partners who have produced especially outstanding results with their high school students.”
Hoey and her colleagues are among 54 Advanced Placement teachers selected from a pool of 600 for recognition by Mass Insight, the Boston-based national nonprofit that works for education reform.
Mass Insight Education’s content directors selected the teachers based on their ability to increase their students’ access to AP classes, their students’ improved performance on the AP exams, and their students’ resulting college readiness.
Mass Insight Education’s AP STEM and English Program encourages more students to take AP classes in an effort to increase their confidence while providing them with the academic skills they need to succeed in post-secondary education. The AP Stem and English program is a key part of Mass Insight Education’s innovative College Success Campaign.
Annually, more than 10,000 students at more than 75 Mass Insight Education partner schools take part in the program. These schools quickly double or triple their enrollment in AP classes. They also double the number of students earning qualifying scores of three or higher on the AP exam.
To help students prepare for the AP exams, Mass Insight Education supports them in several ways, including hosting a series of weekend classes. The goal is to have students take an AP class as an introduction to the level of work they will need to do in college. The hope is that the experience inspires many , who previously thought themselves incapable, to enroll in college. Getting a qualifying score earns students college credit, thus allowing them to finish college quicker and at a lower cost.
Statistics show that 78 percent of Mass Insight Education students who took at least one AP math, science, or English course in high school attended a two- or four-year college after graduating from high school. Ninety three percent continued with two years of college, and 82 percent either graduated or are still in school four years after graduating from high school. Mass Insight Education also provides extra training for AP instructors to strengthen their teaching skills.
