National Report Highlights Mableton School

Gifted education specialist Teresa Reddish works with all kindergartners and first-graders at Clay Elementary to assess their academic potential and their gifts in art, music, and other areas.

It is her job, she said, to get all teachers thinking about how they can "make sure everyone is performing at their best."

Reddish's story is highlighted in a new national report that singles out Cobb and five other school systems that have boosted African-American student participation in and performance on Advanced Placement tests.

While the gap between African-American and white students remains, Cobb County School District is one of six districts where African-American students are improving AP passing rates quickly enough to narrow the gap while increasing or keeping participation rates steady, according to the report from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

AP passing rates among African-American students increased three points between 2008 and 2011 to 39 percent in Cobb—the highest overall passing rate cited in the report.

The Broad Foundation attributed the gains to several factors, mainly an expansion of gifted selection criteria and a broader search for potential like the one Reddish has implemented at Mableton's Clay Elementary. As children get older, Reddish continues to interact with them through classroom-wide activities or pullout services.

Researchers found that:

• Cobb County holds parent nights in the spring before course registration and in the fall to discuss how families can support their children in AP courses.
• Cobb middle and high schools offer an elective course for students wanting to develop the analytic skills required to do well in challenging classes.
• Cobb County provides opportunities for AP teachers at different schools to get together to collaborate.

The Fulton County School District is also cited in the report.

For further contemplation and analysis, read the The Road to Equity: Expanding AP Access and Success for African-American Students.