Proposal To Boost Schools' Offerings

Prince George's County schools chief John E. Deasy this week is rolling out a $33 million proposal to improve the school system's uneven academic performance, an initiative that includes a partnership with the College Board to expand Advanced Placement course offerings countywide.

The proposal, Deasy's most significant since he took office in the spring, aims to build a safety net for struggling students and open opportunities for high achievers. It comes as an estimated 133,000 Prince George's students head back to school tomorrow in the region's third-largest system.

The plan concentrates on improving high schools across the board in a system that now, arguably, has only one with a standout reputation: Eleanor Roosevelt High in Greenbelt.

To that end, Deasy proposed that by the 2007-08 school year each of the county's 22 major high schools should offer at least eight AP courses, which are meant to introduce students to college-level study. Currently, AP offerings in the county vary widely. Many high schools have only a few.

The College Board, which oversees the AP program, will help the school system train a new corps of 200 AP teachers over the next year. In addition, the school system plans to expand subsidies for AP test fees to help ensure that needy students take the tests.

"It's a monumental culture shift," Deasy said. "AP will be on the tongue of every kid around here before too long."

Michael Marchionda, a College Board official working on the project, called it "a multiyear effort" to widen student access to AP. "It's very comprehensive," he said.

The county school board will consider the plan Thursday and is expected to support it.

"People asked for rigor," said Chairman Beatrice P. Tignor (Upper Marlboro). "We've got rigor."

Deasy's eight-part proposal would cost about $33 million in the first year and more in later years, with funding from a school budget surplus. He said he would seek school board approval and then an appropriation from the County Council.

The AP portion of the proposal and related steps to bolster SAT participation and scores would cost about $1 million. But the proposal goes much further.

Deasy also would intervene in chronically low-performing schools, work to rejuvenate parental and community involvement, overhaul school libraries, establish a county accountability index with performance-based rewards and sanctions, expand college-level International Baccalaureate programs, sharpen focus on guidance and student support and take steps to ensure that students who fail state graduation tests can retake and pass them.