Waltham High School Free AP Boot Camp Aims To Help Diversify

WALTHAM, MA — The high school was one of the few secondary schools across the world that had girls in its AP Computer Science course in 2018, according to the College Board, which administers the Advanced Placement program. School officials say that's part of the aim of their free summer AP boot camp program.

Waltham High was among the 685 - out of the more than 18,000 secondary schools that offer the program - to have girls in the program.

"This honor acknowledges the amazing work your school is doing to close the gender equity gap in computer science," Trevor Packer of The College Board wrote to the school.

In the 2016/2017 year, there were five girls enrolled in the computer science AP program, compared with 27 boys. The next year there were eight girls and 24 boys. This year? There were 23 girls and 36 boys enrolled, according to school data.

The recognition comes a year after the High School started offering a summer Advanced Placement (AP) "Bridge program" to support students in an effort to build the necessary critical reading and thinking necessary for successful completion of an AP course. The summer program is part of a larger initiative to increase diversity and overall access to AP courses.

"We're making a big push to get kids who are typically under-represented in AP courses," Interim Principal Paul Maiorano told Patch last year, pointing to statistics that indicate students who take part in AP courses have higher GPAs and better graduating rates and are better prepared for college.

In the 2017/18 school year 235 students participated in AP courses and took some 475 exams at Waltham High School, according to school data. The district wants that number to go up.

Enter the free program at Waltham High School, and the aim is to help students prepare for their advanced placement courses next year. Last year, some 100 students showed up every day at 8:30 a.m for about four hours to work with the very AP teachers would be teaching them in the fall.

Applications are still open for this year's boot camp.

"Similar to last year, we will be teaching critical reading and writing strategies, data analysis skills, organization and time management tips, stress management ideas, academic conduct expectations and college selection and application support," according to the program's director, Marisa Maddox.

Students will also meet and get help from their future AP teachers and most importantly, according to Maddox, engage with their peers and hopefully make connections and relationships that will support them in their future classes.

Muriel Dol, a current junior, taking AP Biology and AP US History attended the boot camp last summer said meeting her teacher and getting to know his teaching style ahead of AP History helped her feel confident in that class.

Students who attend the entire boot camp will receive 3 percent extra credit on their first quarter grade in all their AP classes. The second Waltham High School AP Summer Boot Camp will happen during the week of July 29 - August 2.

"I personally feel like the boot camp gave the students a glimpse of what their AP classes would be like and the expectations in that class," said Maddox. " I also enjoyed meeting my future AP students and helping them on their summer assignment and answering any questions. I built relationships with students before they even entered my class in the fall, and that increased their comfort level in class."

As for the recognition for upping the girls in the Computer Science program?

The computer science teachers, Danielle Pike and Nicole Kleinmann, said they recognize that women are underrepresented in computer science. That's why they actively try to recruit students to give computer science a try. And that, combined with the AP boot camp last year seem to be helping.

"This year we had 31 females taking a CS course, with equal gender representation in our AP Computer Science A course. This is an achievement, but we still have work to do in order to ensure female students have equal representation in computer science courses," the Pike and Kleinmann said in an email.

On top of the boot camp, the high school has worked to create a space where girls hopefully feel like they belong in a computer science class, they said, pointing to the Computer Science Ed Week, Hour of Code, and after school clubs such as Girls Who Code and Technovation.

The AP Summer Boot Camp is open to both new and returning AP students. The deadline to sign up is May 31. Parents and students can reach out to Marisa Maddox marisamaddox@walthampublicschools.org

Read more about the program: Waltham High School Steps Up AP, College Prep With Free Course

Read the letter from The College Board:

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).