The REACH launch yesterday

The launch of the REACH program yesterday was a grand slam.  Hundreds of AP students and their teachers showed up from many of the participating schools, and they were fired up!  The Frederick Douglass Academy was a great host, and its principal, Dr. Gregory Hodge, was a fabulous spokesman for the REACH program -- he thinks it will double the number of students passing AP exams at his school this year (and there were 86 passes last year)!
 
There were articles yesterday in the NY Times, NY Sun, NY Daily News and Washington Post (all below), and all sorts of TV and radio reporters were at the launch event (I posted links to five of the TV segments on YouTube -- see links below).  
 
While the coverage was extremely favorable over all, it was almost funny to see how hard the TV reporters tried to make REACH seem controversial: with a lot of effort they were able to find a couple of people willing to weep and gnash their teeth at the horrors of giving high-achieving inner-city young adults the opportunity to earn a little extra money as they go off to college, based on proving their mastery of college-level work.  We're not trying to bribe students -- just level the playing field a tiny bit.  These are all low-income kids who are often forced to make a choice no student should have to make: commit to academics or take a job to cover the high costs of college visits and application fees, the senior prom, etc.  I love this quote from one of the students who, when told about critics of REACH's reward program, asked, "What financial background is that person from?"
 
There were many distinguished guests at the launch event.  The program was MC'd by American Idol finalist Jared Cotter (http://www.americanidol.com/contestants/season6/jared_cotter/), who opened by signing the national anthem.  Then REACH's Executive Director, Eddie Rodriguez, spoke, followed by Chancellor Joel Klein, four politicians representing the communities REACH is targeting (Assemblyman Denny Farrell, head of the Ways & Means Committee; Assemblyman Darryl Towns, Chairperson of the NYS Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus; Malcolm Smith, NY Senate Minority Leader; and Robert Jackson, Chair of the Education Committee of the NYC City Council); Ernest Logan (head of the principals union); and Tarrus Richardson (founder and chairman of The Council of Urban Professionals.) REACH is a CUP program.
 
Here are links to the TV segments I Tivo'd (there was also coverage on CNN, the Today Show and many others):
 
NY1 (short segment; 1:21):    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U1GBWoWX7s
NY1 (long segment; 3:15):     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQUUgRBIpEQ
ABC 6pm news (2:15):          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIsjjjU0CEc
NBC 6pm news (2:37):          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auwrUmftSqI
NBC 11pm news (2:17):        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByYDG2-_PNM
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Making Cash a Prize for High Scores on Advanced Placement Tests

By JENNIFER MEDINA, October 15, 2007
www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/nyregion/15rewards.html

The city is expanding the use of cash rewards for students who take standardized tests with a $1 million effort financed by philanthropists who will pay students who do well on Advanced Placement exams.
 

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N.Y. Students Can Take AP Scores To the Bank
By Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 15, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/14/AR2007101401415_pf.html

Get a top score on an Advanced Placement exam in May in any of 31 New York <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/New+York?tid=informline>  high schools that serve low-income neighborhoods, and you'll get $1,000.

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City Students Will Cash In For Top Test Scores
BY ELIZABETH GREEN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
October 15, 2007
<http://www.nysun.com/article/64565>  

New York City public school students will have another opportunity to turn high test scores into cash this year, thanks to a private project that is offering as much as $1,000 for a top score on an exam. The program, the brainchild of a hedge fund manager who has made improving public schools a serious hobby, is promising students at 31 city high schools a sliding scale of prize money if they pass college-level tests called Advanced Placement exams. A perfect 5 out of 5 yields $1,000; a 4 earns $750, and a 3, the lowest passing score, gets $500. Schools will also receive checks calculated to match their students' improvements.


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Urban Professionals offers $1,000 for top AP test score
BY ERIN EINHORN
NY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
October 14th 2007
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/education/2007/10/14/2007-10-14_urban_professionals_offers_1000_for_top_.html

Smart kids at 30 city high schools are in for a windfall this year if they ace their Advanced Placement exams.