East Leyden held its first ever AP Interest Meeting in the Nardini Library Wednesday, January 13, allowing students interested in taking AP classes the chance to meet one on one with Leyden’s AP teachers. Respective teachers from the English, Math, Modern Language, Science, Art, and Social Studies departments answered questions and shared their course descriptions, content, and expectations.

Mrs. Karen Ritter, Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning, and Principal Mr. Jason Markey oversaw and encouraged students to explore AP options they otherwise might not have considered.

Ritter, when asked what prompted this meeting, explained, “We are partnering up with this organization called Equal Opportunity Schools, and they have helped us collect data to learn how to identify students that are right for AP classes. And it’s the perfect time right now because we’re right in the beginning of course selection. We want to make sure students have the information they need to make the decision.” Equal Opportunity Schools’ goals, as stated on its website, to provide all students with the information and support they need to enroll in and excel at advanced classes, “Hundreds of thousands of low-income students and black and Latino students are stuck in AP and IB enrollment gaps across the country, often reporting that they are unchallenged by their classes and therefore disengaged. We believe that, together, we can reach all of these students and fully close race and income AP/IB access gap.”

However, Ritter commented that Leyden’s interest in this organization is not to diversify the classroom per se, but to help kids “with comparable qualifications” find classes that challenge and excite them.

In addition to reaching out to potential AP students, the meeting was also a resource for current enrollees and those already certain to have AP classes in their future, providing an opportunity to establish early relationships with instructors as well as confirm that AP is the right path for them.