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BHS & RVHS honored for work on achievement gap

3/21/2019

Richland School District Two’s Blythewood High School and Ridge View High School are being recognized by the College Board for expanding girls’ access to rigorous science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) classes.

Blythewood High School has earned the first College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving high female representation in AP Computer Science Principles. Schools honored with the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award have expanded girls’ access in AP Computer Science courses. Schools receiving the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award have either 50 percent or higher female representation in one of the two AP computer science courses or a percentage of the female computer science examinees meeting or exceeding that of the school’s female population. Only 490 schools earned the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for AP Computer Science Principles.

Ridge View High School has earned the first College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving high female representation in AP Computer Science A. Out of more than 18,000 secondary schools worldwide that offer AP courses, Ridge View High School is one of only 685 to accomplish this.

“We know that currently women are underrepresented in STEM fields such as computer science. We also know that if girls are encouraged and recruited for these classes in high school, they can succeed and continue on that path professionally,” said District Superintendent Dr. Baron R. Davis. “We are very proud of these young women taking advantage of these opportunities and these schools for providing them.”

Schools will receive an official award certificate to celebrate this achievement, an electronic award badge to feature on the school's website.

According to UNESCO’s Institute of Statistics data, less than 30 percent of the world’s researchers are women; in North America and Western Europe, it’s just 32 percent. Research shows women are more likely to pursue computer science if they’re given the opportunity to explore it in high school.