College readiness and completion.

Pittsburgh has joined cities such as Detroit, Denver, and Kalamazoo in supporting college-going by students who graduate high school and meet scholarship requirements by implementing the Pittsburgh Promise. Behind the donations that provide four-year scholarships worth up to $40,000 is the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which gave an initial $10 million and committed to matching other donations up to $90 million over nine years. The Promise in Pittsburgh is more than scholarships. Adult volunteers staff a student mentoring program, all ninth-graders get a pep talk from Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, and a Promise Readiness Corps is focused on making sure no ninth-graders fall through the cracks. [More--USA Today] (Jan.7)

Advanced Placement, the venerable set of courses and exams in more than 30 subjects that attracts nearly two million students annually, is about to do a makeover. "The New A.P.," which rolls out in February with completely revamped versions of A.P. biology and U.S. history, is responsive to several major changes in today's schools, and especially the need to be "anchored in a curriculum that focuses on what students need to be able to do with their knowledge," according to Trevor Packer, vice president for Advanced Placement at the College Board. In place of the course outlines containing lists of points likely to appear on the exams, curriculum frameworks will emphasis concepts and stimulate critical thinking by students. Course exams are also being completely revamped, reducing the importance of fact memorization and recall. [More--The New York Times] (Jan.7)

How educators can best encourage high school students to attend college, particularly those from underrepresented groups, is the subject of "Closing the Gap between High School and College," a report from the Blackboard Institute.

Twenty-four experts in education theory and practice were interviewed for the report, and among the strategies identified were exposing students to college learning experiences through Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and other programs that accelerate learning. High school exit exams were considered to be ineffective in motivating students and, according to the report, "often target efforts on students passing the test without enough focus on 21st-century skills or sufficient core content knowledge." [More--T.H.E. Journal] (Jan. 7)

Thanks to out-of-the-box thinking by the superintendent of the Hidalgo Independent Schools in Texas, the district became the first "early college district" in the country. In 2007, then Hidalgo superintendent Daniel P. King wasn't satisfied with support from the state that would allow half of his high school students to participate in the Early College High School Initiative; he sought out other grants to see that all 800 of the students participated. Ninety-eight percent of Hidalgo students, who are 99-percent Hispanic and nearly 90 percent of whom come from economically disadvantaged families, graduate from high school, compared with the statewide average of 81 percent. [More--The New York Times] (Dec. 23)