Please be advised, the date in which schools may begin submitting Advanced Placement (AP®) Course Audit materials for 2007-2008 courses has been changed from August 2006 to January 2007. The revised timeline and guidelines are available online at apcentral.collegeboard.com/courseaudit. In January, instructions for submitting materials via the Web will be sent to all schools and posted on AP Central® website.
The decision to modify the timeline was based on feedback the AP Program received this spring and early summer from teachers and administrators regarding the limitations of an August start date. In particular, the following needs were presented suggesting that a January start date for the AP Course Audit would benefit the majority of schools:
1. Many teachers and administrators indicated that beginning the AP Course Audit in August would obligate educators to prepare course syllabi over the summer, whereas preference was to use the AP Course Audit to facilitate collaborative work on curricula within the school or district when school is back in session.
2. Educators have asked that the College Board provide more training for both administrators and teachers on the AP Course Audit. Specifically, educators have asked for more examples of ways to show how the AP syllabi might demonstrate incorporation of, or improvement upon, specific AP curricular requirements.
Accordingly, it is essential that the College Board conducts the AP Course Audit on a timeline that allows schools to take full advantage of the opportunities and resources the AP Course Audit affords for curriculum review and development activities within a school or district, without feeling the need to rush to meet an August start date. Teachers will now have the entire fall to prepare the syllabi in concert with colleagues, department heads, and administrators. The goal is to ensure that AP courses around the world, most of which are currently being taught at a very high level, will receive immediate and efficient authorization through the AP Course Audit.
To support schools’ efforts, the College Board AP Program will provide the following resources in the fall:
1. Free online events on the AP Course Audit Process in October, November, and December 2006 (please go to apcentral.collegeboard.com/onlineevents for further information).
2. An AP Course Audit web site demo.
3. Guidelines for conducting district-wide or school-wide curriculum development activities to facilitate teacher development of syllabi.
4. A syllabus self-evaluation checklist, as well as, annotated sample syllabi that demonstrate the curricular requirements.
5. A PowerPoint presentation for local use informing teachers and staff about the AP Course Audit.
Important change: The AP Program will not require schools to complete the Course Audit or request provisional authorization prior to listing in course selection materials the courses schools plan to offer as AP the following year. Instead, the AP authorization must simply be obtained before a school uses the “AP” designation on a course listed on a student’s transcript and in order for the school’s course to appear in the ledger of authorized AP courses provided for college and university admission offices.
The deadline for submitting AP Course Audit materials for 2007-2008 AP courses is June 1, 2007. Schools may still submit AP Course Audit materials after the June 1 deadline; however, the College Board cannot guarantee that courses submitted after this deadline will be authorized in time for inclusion in the ledger of authorized AP courses provided to colleges and universities in November 2007. Colleges and universities will be informed of subsequently authorized courses via periodic updates to the ledger.
Hopefully the AP Course Audit will provide a valuable forum for teachers in the state to reflect upon the ways the locally developed AP curriculum includes or exceeds the expectations delineated by college and university faculty for college-level learning in each discipline. For complete information about the AP Course Audit, go to apcentral.collegeboard.com/courseaudit.