"More minority students at Charlottesville High School are taking college-level courses, but the administrators there are trying to increase their participation, Assistant Principal Vernon Bock told the School Board Thursday night.Black students make up 9 percent of Advanced Placement or Honors English classes, 9 percent of AP or Honors science classes and 8 percent of AP or Honors mathematics courses.

Bock, who reported the course enrollment figures to the board, said CHS has recognized that school counselors need to encourage more minority students to participate in the college-level courses.

“Counselors are working with students on a daily basis,” he said.

Honors courses are taken by ninth- and 10th-graders looking to move on to AP classes, which are reserved for 11th- and 12th-graders. Students enrolled in AP classes follow a national curriculum that centers on a test that allows students to receive college credits, depending on their score and the requirements of the universities to which they apply. Advanced-level courses, however, adhere to state standards and are less rigorous than AP or Honors classes.

Charlottesville Superintendent Rosa S. Atkins said the division needs to continue to focus on student development at elementary schools and at Buford Middle to first implement discipline early in a student’s education and then build their critical-thinking skills. By applying this plan, all students will be more prepared for the most advanced classes at CHS, she said.

The CHS chemistry department employed a program for 2005-06 that mixed advanced chemistry students with those in general classes, which teach at grade level.

Bock said the hope was that the higher expectations placed on lower-achieving students would motivate them to succeed at a higher level. The pilot program was successful, he said, and he attributed the improvements to the chemistry curriculum as one of the main reasons that CHS was fully accredited by the state in science, meaning at least 70 percent of eligible students passed a standardized science test.

“A parent, who is also a [University of Virginia] professor, said to me, ‘I was skeptical at first. But I think it’s the best thing you’ve done here at CHS,’” Bock said.

The assistant principal said CHS is working on plans to combine advanced and general classes in other subject areas for next school year." (Matt Deegan, The Daily Progress, October 20, 2006)