GTP Teachers Prepare for AP Curriculum at Delta State Program

Teachers and administrators from 19 schools in 16 school districts came to Delta State University in Cleveland, MS in mid-August to prepare for classes in AP Biology, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Physics 1, and AP Statistics to be offered through the Global Teaching Project in the 2024-2025 academic year.

A total of 47 educators participated in the DSU Professional Development program, at which AP-certified Supervisory Instructors led sessions to deepen teachers’ understanding of course content, explore effective teaching strategies for advanced STEM subjects, and collaborate in small-group activities designed to foster their growth as educators.

GTP’s blended instructional model provides rural, high-poverty schools the means to offer advanced STEM courses promising high school students need to achieve their full potential, but which they otherwise may not be able to offer.

GTP’s Advanced STEM Access Program includes both in-person and remote instruction; lesson plans and pedagogical support from professors and AP-certified teachers; extensive tutoring from tutors at leading universities around the country; textbooks; online resources; technology; supplies; and university-based residential instructional programs.

GTP’s instructional model permits classroom teachers who are experienced educators to effectively lead classes, even if they have limited substantive foundations.  By doing so, GTP has dramatically expanded educational opportunity in schools grappling with a chronic, and worsening, teacher shortage.  Prior to working with GTP, the vast majority of our schools did not offer a single AP class in any subject.

Teacher Professional Development—which enhances teachers’ skills and knowledge so they may effectively support their students in challenging STEM coursework—is a key element of GTP’s Advanced STEM Access Program.  All expenses for those programs are covered, and teachers are paid a stipend to participate.

Each year, teachers are invited to attend with their students residential instructional programs—in the summer at Mississippi State and in the winter at Jackson State—to learn course content from AP-certified Supervisory Instructors.

In addition, at the beginning of each academic year, teachers convene at a Mississippi university, without students, to prepare for the courses they will be leading.  That Professional Development program begins with a welcome dinner, and continues the following day with immersive instructional sessions.

Teachers at the Delta State program showed both talent and enthusiasm, traits that will help ensure successful classes over the coming months.  We look forward to a great year.