This fall, Thomas County Central High School students seeking new academic challenges have expanded Advanced Placement opportunities.
Beginning the 2020-2021 academic year, TCCHS will offer the AP Capstone Diploma program. It is one of approximately 1,800 schools in the world to implement this pioneering option. This diploma is an addition to the school’s College Board Advanced Placement, or AP, program, which provides academically enterprising students the chance to pursue and earn college credit, placement, or both while in high school.
“This innovative program allows students the freedom to pursue their passion in learning,” Thomas County Schools Director of MERIT Dr. Dale Graham said. “The flexibility in choosing their own research topic will appeal to a diverse student population and afford them the opportunity not only to learn but [also] to demonstrate they know how to involve themselves in independent learning which is very appealing to college selection and scholarship committees.”
The College Board, a mission-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting excellence and fairness in education, partnered with the higher education community to develop this program. Its goal is to aid students in practicing and mastering essential college and career skills.
“We’re proud to offer AP Capstone, which enables students and teachers to focus on topics of their choice in great depth,” Trevor Packer, senior vice president for AP and Instruction at the College Board, said in a recent organization press release. “This provides terrific opportunities for students to develop the ability to write and present their work effectively, individually, and in groups — the very skills college professors want their students to possess.”
Main program components are two courses taken sequentially, AP Seminar and AP Research, geared toward aiding students in developing valuable college success skills like research and communication.
TCCHS begins offering AP Seminar in its upcoming academic year. Typically, sophomores and juniors take this project-based course. Students learn how to choose and evaluate complex topics, determine source credibility and bias, and form arguments to support a recommendation. They complete items such as research reports, written arguments, presentations, and an end-of-course exam.
The subsequent AP Research, which starts at TCCHS in 2021, is a project-based course too. Instead of an exam, a student’s academic paper, presentation, and oral defense determine the score. This class teaches students how to complete a research-based topic investigation that spans the entire year. They learn how to plan, carry out, present, and defend their topic through research methodology, ethical research practices, and the collection, analysis, and creation of information that is contributable to academic study.
“The fun part about the AP Seminar course [is] students have the opportunity to debate important issues with classmates and to develop individual interests,” TCCHS veteran AP teacher Stacey Mitchell said. “There is a fair amount of independence and flexibility in the course that sets it apart from most other AP and Honors classes.”
Students who score a 3 or higher in both Capstone courses earn the AP Seminar and Research Certificate. To achieve the AP Capstone Diploma, students also must meet the same score criteria in four additional AP course exams.
For more information on the College Board and its AP program, visit collegeboard.org.
“The addition of AP Capstone is an important step in building our area’s premier Advanced Placement program,” TCCHS MERIT Coordinator and AP teacher Erin White said. “We currently offer 20 AP classes across all subject areas, and we are excited to offer this to our students as well.”