MILWAUKEE, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On a mission to democratize learning and empower high school students, social learning company Fiveable is pleased to partner with The Bay Area Rising STEM Scholars Initiative to provide BIPOC and low-income students equitable access to high-quality, Advanced Placement (AP) resources. Powered by Google.org and launched in 2019 by Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS), Kapor Center, Kingmakers of Oakland, and DonorsChoose, Fiveable’s partnership will allow more than 2,100 high school students across 17 schools in the Bay Area access to an elevated, cohesive, and community-powered AP study experience.
EOS has helped more than 600 schools nationwide identify students of color and low-income students who qualify for, but are missing from AP or International Baccalaureate (IB) classes. In leveraging their consultative and collaborative partnership model, EOS will facilitate the engagement with each school to assist in identifying site leads, facilitating orientations, and ensuring administrators and teachers are supported at the highest level.
“We have historically and systemically underserved students of color in rigorous spaces in our nation’s schools. Students are telling us that they are ready for more challenging coursework, but that they wonder if their teachers think they belong there,” said Alison Gazarek, Managing Director of Partnerships at EOS. “At EOS we often say ‘opportunity precedes achievement.’ Using EOS metrics, we have the ability to identify students of color who are sitting in local classrooms right now who would thrive in a more rigorous environment.”
In a recent analysis of access, equity, and enrollment of Computer Science in California’s schools, the Kapor Center found that while California is a leader in the tech economy, only 39% of high schools in California offer computer science courses and only 14% offer AP Computer Science A. One of the organization's goals is to address these gaps by removing barriers to STEM education, particularly for underrepresented students of color.
“BIPOC students are vastly underrepresented in APs –– only 5.5% of AP test takers last year were Black –– raising serious concerns about access. In addition to addressing the access gaps for underserved students, we seek to offer a cohesive, peer-supported community experience as that is one major factor for success, particularly for students of color,” said Amanda DoAmaral, founder and CEO of Fiveable.
“On a personal level, this initiative is also quite special to me because we will be supporting students at Skyline High School in Oakland, where I served as a teacher for five years before founding Fiveable,” DoAmaral continued.
Funding will be provided by the Google.org Inclusion grant in partnership with DonorsChoose, a national nonprofit that empowers public school teachers to request classroom materials for their students. This initiative will allow for each school to receive 120 Fiveable Cram Passes, specifically for AP students taking STEM exams.
With the Cram Pass, which Fiveable offers for 11 AP STEM subjects, each student will have access to ten live-streamed sessions hosted by qualified AP teachers plus the Cram Finale, a 5-hour live review the day before each exam (follow #5hourhang to join the fun). Throughout the months of March and April, Fiveable teachers will host more than 250 live streams to cover every unit across 29 subjects, with all Cram Finales taking place in May.
This partnership will also introduce those who are unfamiliar with the company to the Fiveable Student Community, an online space on Discord created to help students thrive academically and emotionally, a space open to all free of charge. Not only will students be able to connect on non-academic topics that they care about, like gaming and politics, but they’ll also have access to student teacher assistants who will be hosting weekly office hours to answer questions and give insider tips for the exam.
If you’re interested in exploring how Fiveable might be able to partner with your school, please reach out to hi@fiveable.me.
ABOUT FIVEABLE
Fiveable is a social learning company that seeks to democratize learning and empower high school students through educational content, community, and collaboration. By providing students with free and engaging resources, Fiveable helps students master complex concepts and skills through interactive live streamed lessons and discussions, fun review games, study guides, and peer-to-peer communities. Since the company’s founding in 2018 by educator and activist Amanda DoAmaral, Fiveable has supported roughly 4M high school students and helped them achieve a 92% pass rate on the Advanced Placement (AP) exam. For more information about Fiveable, please visit www.fiveable.me or follow on Twitter @thinkfiveable.
