Lt. Governor unveils AP pilot program to help rural high school students prepare for college
Illini Central in Mason City among pilot schools

[January 13, 2018] 

SPRINGFIELD

Lt. Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti has unveiled a new Advanced Placement (AP) pilot program that will give students at rural Illinois high schools access to online AP classes to better prepare them for college.

A new initiative of the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council (GRAC) that Sanguinetti chairs, the AP pilot program kicks off today with classes for 75 students at 10 high schools in rural areas across the state. Sanguinetti held news conferences at Altamont High School in Altamont and Central A&M High School in Moweaqua today to announce the program.

“AP classes help prepare students for college and can even make college more affordable, but unfortunately access to AP classes is extremely limited in rural areas,” Sanguinetti said. “This pilot program will test the feasibility of expanding AP classes through distance education so that students in rural Illinois will get the same opportunities to learn as their counterparts in the urban areas of our state.”

Participating schools in the pilot program include: Kankakee High School, Altamont High School, Knoxville High School, Illini Central High School, Tri-Point High School, Pope County High School, Orangeville High School, Quincy High School, Central A&M High School, and Georgetown-Ridge Farm High School.

“Concern exists that small rural schools have greater difficulty preparing students with the skills necessary for successful college careers because of the lack of AP or specialized coursework,” said Dr. Bobbi Mattingly, Superintendent of Regional Office of Education #11. “Distance education has the potential to provide more choices which in turn better prepares rural youth to attend college.”

The pilot program was created in partnership with Illinois Virtual Schools, the Regional Office of Education Association, the College Board, the Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools, and the Illinois State Board of Education. Students in both the experimental groups (students taking the AP course through IVS) and control groups (students taking the AP course in a traditional, face-to-face setting at their primary school) were randomly selected into sample sizes of four students each. They will be pre- and post-tested and their scores will be measured and compared by virtual vs. traditional class.

"The Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools (AIRSS) is excited to support the new Advanced Placement/Illinois Virtual School Pilot project unveiled by Lt. Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti,” said AIRSS Executive Director David Ardrey. “This new initiative will support one of the Association's primary goals, to provide access to quality educational programming to our Illinois rural and small schools."

[Office of the Lt. Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti]