Joanie Harmon
For 15 years the UCLA education research center has held workshops for thousands of Los Angeles high school students
When Zheniah Houston, a junior at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, spent part of a recent Saturday at UCLA in a workshop titled “Argumentation with Thesis Statement Review,” she was looking for an edge.
Houston was getting ready to take the exams for her Advanced Placement classes, high-level high school courses that often count for college credit and are being administered this month. So she, like thousands of other Los Angeles Unified School District students for the past 15 years, came to UCLA to participate in AP test workshops put on by the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies’ Center X.
“It helps because you have your own teacher, and you know the way she lectures,” said Houston, who attended the workshops on April 18 along with more than 1,500 LAUSD students. “But then you hear from another teacher and get their point of view, and you get methods and strategies you can use on the test. That’s always helpful.”
The half-day event on April 18 featured teachers and educators from throughout LAUSD who provided their expertise in 10 subject areas to improve students’ success on the AP tests, thereby helping them earn scores that can improve their chances for college admission.