Gifted and Talented/Advanced Academics / Advanced Placement Program

Advanced Placement Program

The Advanced Placed (AP) program is a cooperative educational endeavor between secondary schools, colleges, and universities. The AP program offers college-level courses and exams that allow high school students to receive advanced placement and/or credit in college. The purpose of the AP/PreAP program offers students the opportunity to develop higher level thinking skills through an immersion in rigorous content, an accelerated pace, and performance assessment at the synthesis and evaluative levels.

Midland ISD is committed to the principle that all students deserve an opportunity to participate in a rigorous and academically challenging curriculum. Because of this commitment, students are highly encouraged to take AP courses when appropriate. According to research, by the time students enter college, the types of courses they took in high school are more important than test scores, class rank, or grade averages. Students participating in AP courses are significantly more likely to attain a college degree than those without an AP experience. (Adelman 1999).

Midland ISD currently offers AP courses at all of our high schools dependent upon the availability of content area certified staff. Content and curricular goals for each AP discipline are outlined in an AP Course description supplied by the College Board. The links to the College Board Course Descriptions can be found by clicking on the name of each course below.

Arts		Math and Computer Science continued
AP Art and Design Program		AP Precalculus
AP Art History		AP Statistics
AP Music Theory
		Sciences
English		AP Biology
AP English Language and Composition		AP Chemistry
AP English Literature and Composition		AP Environmental Science
		AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based
History and Social Sciences		AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based
AP Comparative Government and Politics		AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
AP European History		AP Physics C: Mechanics
AP Human Geography
AP Macroeconomics		AP World Languages and Cultures
AP Microeconomics		AP French Language and Culture
AP Psychology		AP German Language and Culture
AP United States Government and Politics		AP Latin
AP United States History		AP Spanish Language and Culture
AP World History: Modern		AP Spanish Literature and Culture

Math and Computer Science		AP Capstone Diploma Program (Under Consideration)
AP Calculus AB		About the AP Capstone Diploma Program
AP Calculus BC		AP Research
AP Computer Science A		AP Seminar
AP Computer Science Principles

AP EXAMS

Approximately 1200 institutions of higher learning award credit based on a student's AP examination scores. AP examinations are structured to measure the depth of knowledge, completeness of thought, and synthesis of ideas. Each AP exam includes multiple-choice and free-response questions that require essay writing, problem-solving, and other skills. Each exam receives an overall score based on a five-point scale, with college credit usually given for scores of 3 or higher:

Scale:

5 - Extremely well qualified
4 - Well qualified
3 - Qualified
2 - Possibly qualified
1 - No recommendation

AP exams are administered each year during the first two weeks of May. In July, AP Grade Reports are sent to each student's home address, high school, and student-designated colleges.

Each college and university decides how much credit to award for AP scores. This information can be found by using the AP Credit Policy search at www.collegeboard.com/ap/creditpolicy