Mass Insight launches Advanced Placement® Success Tools to support AP success

The tools will help AP programs and classrooms address the needs of historically underserved students.

BOSTON – October 4, 2022 – Mass Insight Education & Research (Mi) is proud to announce the launch of its Advanced Placement (AP ®) Equity Building Tools. These tools are the product of Mi’s work in the AP Action Community over the last 18 months.  Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the AP Action Community brought together five schools from across New England to form an improvement network around increasing AP participation and success for Black, Latino, and students from low-income backgrounds. 

“We’re grateful to the Gates Foundation for funding the AP Action Community,” said Susan F. Lusi, Ph.D., President & CEO of Mi.  “It provided a unique opportunity to collaborate with our partner schools in the creation of tools that will support achieving equitable outcomes for students in AP programs.” 

In addition to having a significant impact in AP enrollment, AP exam taking, and AP exam passing rates in participating schools for target students, the work of the AP Action Community has been crystalized into 3 different but related tools: AP Equity Self-Assessment, AP On-Track Framework, and the Classroom Strategies for Student Success (CSAPS). 

• The AP Equity Self-Assessment helps teams assess the extent to which their school and/or district AP program is promoting equitable student outcomes.  
• The AP On-Track Framework describes the experiences educators can provide to AP students throughout the school year to help them stay on track for AP success. 
• The Classroom Strategies for Student Success is a resource that compiles over 100 classroom strategies to support the success of Black and Latino students and those experiencing poverty in their AP coursework. 

Our goal is for these tools to become job-embedded and help educators around the country support Black, Latino, and students from low-income backgrounds to participate and succeed in AP, and consequently, provide equitable pathways for post-secondary success. 

“The AP Equity Building Tools were inspired, developed, and field-tested in the context of this work with our partner schools,” said Carolina Buitrago, Senior Manager of Program & Strategy at Mi, who led the work of the AP Action Community. “We hope that educators, and most of all, historically marginalized students will benefit from these tools.” 

The tools are accessible now at https://massinsight.org/advanced-placement/ap-success-tools/.