Garden City High School to Be Featured on NBC News

Tune in to NBC’s 11 o’clock news Sept. 26 for Education Nation, a network-wide segment by anchor Chris Glorioso focusing on Advanced Placement (AP) opportunities for high school students.

The investigative piece includes footage from one of William Highfill’s Garden City High School AP psychology classes and an interview with superintendent of schools Dr. Robert Feirsen.

The air date may change so check the district’s website for updates.

The development of the AP feature began when NBC News contacted the district to obtain footage for an 11 o’clock news promotional piece in late August. Although only the film and not audio portion were to be used for the promo, the discussions between anchor Glorioso, a former adjunct professor at NYU, and Dr. Feirsen, yielded a deep connection on education issues, specifically about the importance of AP opportunities for students.

The meeting led to an invitation for an on-camera interview with the superintendent, as well as a filmed in-session AP class at the high school. Social studies teacher William Highfill hosted Gloriso and cameraman Evan Stulberger in his fourth period AP psychology class on Thursday for a typical lesson, in this case, a discussion of “Nature vs. Nurture.”

Coincidentally, the data assembled by NBC for the segment utilized the non-profit website propublica.com, and indicated that Garden City High School had the highest percentage of eligible students enrolled in at least one AP class in districts enrolling 3,000 or more students in New York State (approximately 3,386 high schools) for the 2009-2010 school year. The propublica.com data also indicated that Garden City’s students are achieving above expected passing rates when variables are compared.

Dr. Feirsen credited the district’s long-term, focused efforts for the increase in enrollment and achievement on the AP exams.

“The Board of Education has been steadfast in its commitment to providing high school students with opportunities to pursue rigorous, intellectually-engaging courses of study,” he said.