Innovation & Improvement
Advanced Placement
—Teacher Information
Webinar
- Strategies and Resources for Developing or Expanding an Advanced Placement (AP) Program in Your District Webinar
(November 9, 2010)
Advanced Placement Teacher Information
Advanced Placement Course Audit Update
The following information is being circulated by the College Board and AP Central to publicize the upcoming need for all AP teachers and schools to submit materials to substantiate their claim that a course should be recognized as worthy of the Advanced Placement designation. Failure to meet the requirements of this audit will nullify that claim. All questions regarding this procedure should be directed to the College Board and the email address designated at the end of this article or through the website at AP Central.
As scheduled, the AP Course Audit process will officially open later this January. AP teachers, principals, AP Coordinators, and district representatives will receive instructions on how to access the AP Course Audit website and submit materials during the fourth week in January. Instructions will also appear on AP Central.
The AP Course Audit provides schools with clear guidelines on the course content and resources typical of college-level classes, and helps colleges and universities better interpret courses marked "AP" on students' transcripts. Schools have until June 1, 2008 to submit materials as part of the AP Course Audit. Prior to the opening of the AP Course Audit website, the College Board encourages AP teachers to review the course audit information and resources available on AP Central at http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/courseaudit, which include:
- Annotated
Syllabi & Samples of Evidence
Multiple samples of evidence in each AP subject illustrate the variety of ways curricular requirements can be met in a syllabus. Annotated syllabi have been written by AP teachers who teach in the public or private sector and by college professors who teach the parallel college-level course. Collectively, these syllabi illustrate a variety of ways a course can meet the AP Course Audit curricular requirements.
- AP
Course Audit Website Demo
This online demo will help familiarize teachers and administrators with the website through which teachers will submit their syllabi.
As always, schools develop their own curriculum for courses labeled "AP." The AP Course Audit simply specifies core elements colleges and universities expect to see within the curriculum you develop for college-level AP courses. You will see when reviewing the AP Course Audit requirements that they do not in any way constitute a mandated curriculum, and provide schools with tremendous flexibility in development of curricula for courses labeled "AP." Courses that meet or exceed these expectations will be authorized to use the "AP" designation.
The AP Course Audit deliberately does not base its outcomes on student exam grades, because doing so would put pressure on teachers to avoid taking risks on students less certain to succeed in an AP course. Because the AP Course Audit requirements were established by professors from several hundred of the nation's top colleges and universities, it is our hope that even experienced AP teachers with high-performing students will benefit from the opportunity the AP Course Audit provides to reflect on their own curriculum and how they are meeting or, in many cases, exceeding the most recent set of expectations voiced by college and university faculty.
For more information on the AP Course Audit, please visit http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/courseaudit or email apaudit@collegeboard.org.
