MILWAUKEE — Students who take Advanced Placement courses in high school are often a step ahead when they attend college. That’s especially true at Milwaukee Public School, Golda Meir.
Golda Meir teaches grades 3-12. The high school level started at the MPS school 10 years ago.
James Nelson is a social studies department chair and Advanced Placement teacher. He said the AP classes have created tremendous academic growth in the past decade.
“Our graduating classes have earned more than well over a thousand college credits just through Advanced Placement and then additional college credits through other opportunities made available to them,” said Nelson.
Nelson said the high school has fewer than 600 students, which provides a family-oriented learning environment for the students.
He said a third of the seniors at Golda Meir demonstrate proficiency at the college level in at least one subject area.
Raphael Lee is a senior at the school. He said his AP classes have made him stronger academically, plus he will already have college credit when he attends The University of Chicago next year.
“I think going to college is hard enough in itself, so having that one step ahead to propel me into my future, I think, that’s a good feeling,” said Lee.
Carlee Pierson is Lee’s classmate. She said the classes have given her a strong sense of confidence with college just around the corner.
“I feel like I’ll be prepared, like I won’t be caught off guard by the course load or a lot of the teachers who teach the AP classes make a point to teach it like a college professor would so I’m not going to be caught off guard by how they teach things,” said Pierson.
Nelson said he estimates that about 90% of Golda Meir’s high school graduates go on to some form of college. The rest, he said, either go to into the armed services or go directly into the workplace.
“It all kind of comes together so that students leave here academically prepared for college with their AP classes, but also socially and emotionally prepared for college,” said Nelson.