Recently, Page High School teamed up with Equal Opportunity Schools, a company that “collaborate(s) with school districts to increase enrollment in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes, so more students can excel.” Their goal is to help minority and lower income students all over the United States by improving the accessibility of advanced courses. At Page, we have a few members of the Equal Opportunity Schools team. Led by Mrs. Scott, the team consists of Mrs. Blue, Mr. Scarbro, Mr. Naglee, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Hill, and Mr. Brown. This team gathers material from the surveys and creates strategies to convince students to join advanced courses. The largest subgroup of Page is African American males, but Caucasian students are the majority of AP and IB classes. The team not only tries to understand why this split is prevalent in classrooms all around Page but also encourages their coworkers to be a part of the program so that awareness of the issue grows larger. When asked what some of the benefits of taking higher level courses are, Mrs. Scott explained that these classes “build stamina” for focusing on school, work, and anything requiring focus. Mrs. Blue, when asked the same question, said,“Everyone should take at least one higher level class…” , because advanced classes prepare students for after high school, whether the student goes to college or to the military. To help with the team’s studies, Pirates were surveyed about their knowledge on AP, IB, and honors classes to give Page’s administration more information on what they could do to help their students succeed and become more comfortable with their academic track. The survey was composed of questions about what students know about advanced classes, what students think about their teachers for these classes, and what students think their individual weaknesses and strengths are.

Honors classes are available to any student, no matter what grade level, in high school. If you get an A in an honors class, your GPA for that class will be a 4.5 as opposed to a 4.0 in a regular level class. Since no AP classes are offered for freshmen at Page, freshmen planning on taking AP or IB courses can take any available honors classes as preparation. Honors classes are available in almost all subjects except for languages and Physical Education.

Advanced Placement, or AP, classes are much more rigorous than regular and honors classes. If you earn an A in an AP class, your GPA for that class will be a 5.0. In AP classes, there is always an AP exam at the end of the year to see if you pass the class or not. There are a total of 38 different AP classes, but Page and most other high schools do not teach all of them. Some AP classes available to Pirates include AP United States History, AP Physics, AP English (11th and 12th grade), and AP Biology.

International Baccalaureate, or IB, courses are similar, yet different, than AP classes. Similarly to AP classes, an A in an IB class will give you a 5.0 GPA for that specific class. Unlike AP courses, there are two different types of IB classes: Standard Level, or SL, and Higher Level, or HL. Anyone that is up to the challenge can take an IB class, but students interested in the International Baccalaureate Program have to apply to their IB high school. For example, students districted to Northern or Northeast, both schools that do not have the IB Program available, would go to Page if accepted, because Page would be their IB district school. The IB Program is a program offered where freshmen and sophomores stay on an “IB track”. This means they take honors and the highest courses available to prepare for their junior and senior years where they take AP and IB courses. To earn the IB Diploma, students must take a certain number of required classes and earn a certain number of points on their final exams and extended essay. As an IB student, you are required to take four years of language; Language I, Language II, Language III, and IB Language. Page has Spanish, Latin, and French available to all students. Mrs. Blue, Page High School’s IB coordinator, can provide detailed information on this program. If you are trying your hardest, no matter what classes you take, you are bound to succeed!