By Priyanka Dayal TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

AP used to be for the high school elite. Some educators are trying to change that.

Many high schools are opening Advanced Placement courses to students who have the potential to do well in challenging courses but were overlooked in the past, including female and minority students.   The Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative is launching a grant program this year to help 10 schools boost their math, science and English AP programs.

“One goal obviously is to increase qualifying scores, but another goal is to get students access to a very solid curriculum,” said Matthew C. Morse, principal of Worcester’s North High School.

North High will receive $373,857 through the grant over five years. The money will pay for teacher training and will help defray the $84 test fee students must pay to take each AP test.

In May, all AP students take the same exam and are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with a 3 or higher considered passing. Many colleges offer credits to freshmen coming in with qualifying AP scores.

The percentage of students who pass AP exams is a common factor used to rank high schools nationwide. Educators acknowledge that opening AP to a larger group of students could mean, at least initially, that a smaller percentage passes.

“That’s a reasonable tradeoff,” said Patrick Schultz, director of school services for the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative. “The ultimate goal is to add more kids. The gap will eventually close. There’s no debate anymore about what’s more effective.”

Massachusetts is one of a handful of states to launch a branch of the National Math and Science Initiative, which was created last year to help equip American students with the skills to compete globally.

The initiative uses Dallas as a benchmark. Ten Dallas schools, which received funding through a private foundation, provided a model for the initiative. Over 12 years, the number of passing math, science and English AP exams rose from 157 to 1,466. For African-Americans and Hispanics, the number rose from 29 to 664.This year in Massachusetts, enrollment in math, science and English AP courses is up 49 percent at the 10 schools receiving the grant. The recipients are Worcester North High School, Marlboro High School, Revere High School, Malden High School, Chelsea High School, Milton High School, Northampton High School, Springfield Central High School, the Springfield Renaissance School and Boston’s John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science.

At North High, enrollment has nearly doubled to about 120 students this year, thanks to a large recruitment effort by teachers and administrators. The increase in students means a more diverse group will be taking AP courses.

“The teachers we have at North are very well equipped, very versatile and very dedicated. They know how to adjust,” said Susan E. Pedone, who has taught AP English for close to two decades.

“I think a lot students will take the course on the understanding that it will be a lot more rigorous,” she said. “If they’re willing to take on the challenge and understand the work is going to be more intense, they get to college and definitely are better prepared. Even if you don’t get a qualifying score, you’ll be ahead.”

The school will offer “much more of a support system than in the past,” she added, including Saturday sessions and mock tests.

North High is offering cash prizes as an incentive to boost AP enrollment and performance. Students who receive a qualifying score of 3 or higher will be compensated; the amount is undetermined.

“Certainly it’s an important piece, but we try to explain the importance of taking the class and working hard,” said Mr. Morse, the principal. “Greater than any monetary compensation or award is that you are accessing a very strong, nationally recognized curriculum. When you are applying to colleges, that does speak volumes.”

Teachers at North also will receive a stipend if their classes achieve performance targets; the targets are yet to be established.

At Marlboro High, more than 100 students received qualifying AP scores in 2007. In March, Mary E. Carlson, principal at the time, said she hoped the grant would help raise that number to 275 students in 2013.

Marlboro will receive nearly half a million dollars through the five-year grant.

The program is not exclusive to AP teachers. Middle school teachers also are being trained to prepare their students for future AP courses.

At a training session for pre-AP teachers at Marlboro High School last month, instructor Marianne Moransaid extending access to AP courses will challenge more students.

“It doesn’t mean we’re dumbing it down,” she said. “We’re raising the bar for all students. … We haven’t held our kids to this. We haven’t told them this is what you can do, and we’re here to help you.”

Veronica Tate, a science teacher at Worcester East Middle School, was one of dozens of teachers at the training session. With a group of teachers, she measured the volume, density and mass of green beans. The experiment, recommended for sixth- and seventh-graders, covered some of the basics for success in AP science courses.

“We should nurture them,” Ms. Tate said. “You need to start with kids early on. They can do it if we spend the time to do it with them. … So by the time they get to ninth grade, they can take AP.”

Right now, Ms. Tate said, too many of her students have an “I can’t do it” attitude.

Also at the training session, Elise Frangos, a former AP English teacher at Arlington High School, discussed the difference between denotation and connotation with a room full of English teachers. “We want kids to understand we need to pick exactly the right words,” she said.

In an interview, Ms. Frangos said, “AP is not for the privileged; it’s for the prepared. If we grow the pipeline, they’ll get the 3, 4 or 5. All kids are potential AP students.”