October 15 is the preferred date by which administrators should renew previously authorized courses that are again offered in the 2011-12 school year to ensure the inclusion of these courses in the initial publication of the AP Course Ledger in November.
The AP® Program unequivocally supports the principle that each individual school must develop its own curriculum for courses labeled “AP.” Rather than mandating any one curriculum for AP courses, the AP Course Audit instead provides each AP teacher with
a set of expectations that college and secondary school faculty nationwide have established for college-level courses. More
AP teachers are encouraged to develop or maintain their own curriculum that either includes or exceeds each of these expectations; such courses will be authorized to use the “AP” designation. Credit for the success of AP courses belongs to the individual schools and teachers that create powerful, locally designed AP curricula.
The AP Calculus AB course should be designed by your school to provide students with a learning experience equivalent to that of a college course in single-variable calculus. Your Calculus AB course needs to develop students’ understanding of the concepts of calculus and provide experience with its methods and applications. The course should emphasize a multirepresentational approach to calculus, with concepts, results and problems being expressed graphically, numerically, analytically and verbally. In addition, the connections among these representations should be highlighted.
Before studying calculus, students should complete four years of secondary mathematics designed for college-bound students; in these courses, they should study algebra, geometry, trigonometry, analytic geometry and elementary functions. These functions include those that are linear, polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric and piecewise defined. In particular, before studying calculus, students must be familiar with the properties of functions, the algebra of functions and the graphs of functions. Students must also understand the language of functions (domain and range, odd and even, periodic, symmetry, zeros, intercepts and so on) and know the values of the trigonometric functions of the numbers 0, π/6, π/4, π/3, π/2 and their multiples.
All students who are willing and academically prepared to accept the challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum should be considered for admission to AP courses. The College Board encourages the elimination of barriers that restrict access to AP courses for students from ethnic, racial and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the AP Program. Schools should make every effort to ensure that their AP classes reflect the diversity of their student population.
High schools offering this exam must provide the exam administration equipment described in the AP Coordinator’s Manual.
Annual AP Course Renewals
Beginning in August of each academic year, AP Course Audit administrators are responsible for renewing previously authorized courses that will again be offered. Administrators can renew courses online from their AP Course Audit account.
Independent Survey on
State
of AP
A new report on AP provides the perspective of a national sample of AP teachers on issues of the program's quality, growth, equity and rigor.
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