April 2, 2019 - Congratulations to Raines, Ribault and Ed White High Schools for winning the 2018 College Board’s AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award.
This award is given to schools that show more than 50 percent representation of females in AP Computer Science classes and/or on the AP Computer Science exam day.
In the 2017-2018 school year, most of the AP Computer Science Principles exams taken at Raines and Ribault High Schools were taken by female students – eight out of 11 exams for Raines and 16 out of 19 for Ribault. At Ed White, 70 young women were enrolled in an AP Computer Science course.
Only 685 schools across the nation received this award, and Duval County hosts three of them.
Principal Traci Battest of Ed White High School said she is proud of the barriers her students are breaking down.
“I am proud that my female students are courageous enough to take on the task of exploring this male dominated industry,” said Battest. “As the first female Principal of Ed White High School, I take on the responsibility of promoting the academic and career advancement of future women scientists, mathematicians and engineers at all levels by identifying and cultivating my student’s interests in STEM fields.”
Ribault High School principal, Dr. Gregory Bostic, said winning this award was important for helping the next generation of young professionals flourish.
“We are proud of our students for delving into these fields and excelling at this rigorous course work,” said Bostic.
According to research by the UNESCO’s Institute of Statistics data, less than 30 percent of the world’s computer science researchers are women.