Shmoop technology and teachers close the achievement gap

Despite budget woes plaguing the school district of Philadelphia, Northeast High School, located in one of the lowest income areas of the city, was able to shine through as a success story.

As part of a rigorous Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate program overhaul, Northeast High School incorporated Shmoop, one of the world's largest digital publishers of test prep materials and educational guides, and saw the number of college eligible AP scores (3+) triple in just three years.

"Can a comprehensive high school with a largely low-income student body significantly increase college eligibility scores while maintaining enrollment numbers? Yes. In three years, that is exactly what Northeast High School has done," says Ellen Siminoff, founder of Shmoop. "The effective use of technology in classrooms should mean that companies like us make it easier for passionate teachers to do their jobs."

Northeast High School students were given access to Shmoop's full suite of 30+ AP guides to use as a resource to supplement their classroom instruction. In addition, the teachers and AP coordinators created a myriad of academic and extracurricular programs to motivate students to enroll in AP and IB classes. These programs included Saturday practice sessions, summer programs, awards assemblies, subsidized exam fees, and extra instruction and support in classrooms from staff and faculty members.

As a result, Northeast High's AP results soared.

Before the programs were implemented, the school had no AP scholars and only ~10% had a score of 3 or better. In contrast, after the implementation of Shmoop and the extra programs, Northeast High had 22 AP Scholars and saw more than one out of every three AP-test-taking students (36.1%) score a 3 and above. The college matriculation rate also jumped to 63% versus 53%, with 133 students earning college credit on 177 AP exams.

AP is a trademark registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.