SPRINGFIELD - Cold hard cash will be offered at two city schools next year, to expand the number of students who take Advanced Placement courses and pass related mathematics, science or English examinations.

At Central High School and Springfield Renaissance School, juniors or seniors will be given $100 for each Advanced Placement test they pass in math, science or English.

Teachers of the college-level courses in those subjects will get a $500 stipend, plus $100 for each of their students who scores at least a 3 on Advanced Placement exams, which are scored from 1 to 5. Students who get 3's are also eligible for credit at most colleges.

Central and Springfield Renaissance are among 11 public high schools chosen for the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative training and award program, funded by the National Math and Science Initiative and Exxon Mobil Corp., among other benefactors. Over a five-year period, the two Springfield schools will receive almost $600,000 combined in funds and services, including almost $400,000 in teacher training, support and resources.

"This is a major coup for the city of Springfield," said Schools Superintendent Joseph P. Burke at yesterday's press conference.

He hoped that additional city schools will be chosen in coming years.

Central High School, which already offers 12 Advanced Placement sections, hopes to boost that number to 20 for the fall, said Principal Richard W. Stoddard. Additional staff would be necessary, requiring School Department funds, because teacher salaries are not covered by the grant.

The Springfield Renaissance School, now in its second year of operation, will offer four Advanced Placement sections for the first time.

Sophomore Nicholas M. Martinez, 16, who attended yesterday's event at the Meline Kasparian Professional Development Center, said he looks forward to the challenging courses and hopes that participating will help him get into college.

"Mostly through school, I've just sailed along," he said.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Morton Orlov II, president of the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative, told students, teachers and administrators from the high-poverty school district that success on Advanced Placement tests can help students transcend socio-economic status.

"A (score of) 5 at Central High School is as good as a 5 in Wellesley or Weston," he said.

Orlov, the outgoing principal of Chelsea High School, said that a primary goal is to increase participation in Advanced Placement courses. Instead of school staffers trying to "round up the usual suspects," he said, they should "look to the left, and look to the right."

"We're going to open it up, that's going to make it harder for the teachers," Orlov said. "This is not just about gifted and talented ... this is about the whole middle, as far as I'm concerned."

The Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative, which received a $150,000 donation from Springfield's Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., will provide intensive training to almost 100 Advanced Placement teachers statewide in the summer, and will train another 55 teachers of grades six through 11.

Urban League of Springfield President Henry M. Thomas III, who serves on the Board of Higher Education, warned that low expectations set by some teachers is "the elephant in the room," which needs to be tackled for the plan to work.

The plan is modeled on a 10-year-old Dallas program, where the average number of students scoring 3 or higher on Advanced Placement exams tripled in English and quadrupled in mathematics over a five-year period.