The Internationalization of AP

The Internationalization of the Advanced Placement Program

By Robert DiYanni
Director of K-12 International Services at The College Board and
Adjunct Professor at New York University

Initial International Foray

The College Board began to consider the international audience for AP more seriously in the late 1980s, success in this area occurring in Germany. Through working with the German cultural ministry and with Prof. Dr. Diether Raff of Heidelberg University, AP was recognized and accepted by all German universities. The German AP policy requires students to have a high school diploma and four AP exams with grades of 3 or higher. Demonstration of sufficient knowledge of the German language is also necessary.

AP International Teacher Professional Development

The College Board has long worked with the US Department of State, with the Department of Defense, and with various types of international schools to provide opportunities for the professional development of AP teachers through conferences presentations, weekend workshops and week-long AP Summer Institutes. Some of this professional development has been done in conjunction also with regional educational associations throughout the world—AASA, AISA, EARCOS, ECIS, MAIS, NESA, and others. The College Board offers sessions annually at the teachers conferences sponsored by these regional educational associations. But the Board also provides professional development workshops and institutes on its own, at various international sites.

AP International Recognition

Recognition of the AP Program began with a number of European universities accepting AP students, including the universities of Montpellier, Bern, Basel, Lausanne, along with the entire German university system, all granting recognition for AP. These institutions would soon be followed by others, including the complete Austrian university system, which signed on to recognize AP, with a policy similar to that of the Germans, in late 2001. At this time, more than 400 universities in 27 countries outside the US recognize AP exams as a key credential in their admissions and placement process

It is important to distinguish what the recognition of AP means internationally from what it means in the US and in Canada. US and Canadian colleges and universities typically grant advanced placement or credit, or both, to students who present qualifying AP grades (most often 3 or higher on a 1-5 scale) in different academic subjects. Each university sets its own recognition policy, and policies vary not only from one college or university to another, but also across departments at any particular university. International universities, however, typically use AP Exam grades as a measure of a student's readiness to enter on a par with their national population.

The AP International Diploma

The AP International Diploma (APID) was developed by the College Board in 1995. The APID is designed for students whose higher education plans include applying to a university outside the United States. It is accepted by universities worldwide as an indication of a student's readiness for postsecondary work at institutions in various countries. However, it is not a substitute for a secondary school diploma that is issued by accredited American high schools or by secondary schools abroad. The APID is also not typically used for credit or advanced placement at universities outside the United States and Canada.

The APID is currently undergoing revision. The new APID will require five courses rather than the present four, but all AP Exams will be equally weighted (there will be no "half-year" courses.) Two languages will be required, along with one of AP's global courses (World History, Human Geography, Comparative Government, Environmental Science). The other two options will be chosen from among two of the following three categories: (1) Mathematics and Sciences; (2) Humanities and Social Sciences; (3) Arts and Others. Full details will be announced in the coming months.

The Case of Canada

Analogous to the College Board's effort to expand AP in Europe and Asia in the early 1990s was an initiative to do the same in Canada. In May 2003, more than 8,400 students took 12,350 AP Examinations. Like the AP international initiative outside of North America, AP Canada provided professional development in the form of teacher conferences, workshops, and AP Summer Institutes. Recognition of AP continued to grow so that all but one Canadian university now has an AP policy. Throughout the first decade of the new millennium, the AP Program will be expanding its services to schools throughout Canada and increasing the scope of opportunities for teacher professional development there. One testimony to the success of AP in Canada is that five AP teachers (of 15 honorees) were given the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2001.

New International Initiatives

Current international initiatives include a number of professional development opportunities for teachers. These include AP presentations, many of them discipline-specific, at international conferences organized by AASSA, AISA, ECIS, EARCOS, MAIS, and the Tri-Association; Canadian teacher conferences in Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver; weekend teacher professional development in Singapore, Bogota, Taipei, and Barcelona; and week-long teacher development institutes in Bangkok (in conjunction with the spring NESA Teachers' Conference), Hawaii, and Leipzig scheduled for the spring and summer of 2004.

In addition, the College Board is bringing the AP Program, including Pre-AP initiatives, to schools in China, Taiwan, and India, including those outside the international schools arena. Meetings have been held both in the US and in these Asian countries with schools and universities, with private agencies, and with educational ministries regarding the inauguration of cooperative educational initiatives that include the AP Program, Pre-AP professional development, and the new grades 6-11 College Board English and mathematics initiatives, which include pedagogical frameworks, instructional modules and materials, along with embedded diagnostic assessments.

World Languages and Cultures Initiative

The College Board has recently announced a new initiative in World Languages and Cultures, the first phase of which will be the introduction of new AP courses and examinations in Italian, Chinese, Russian, and Japanese Language and Culture. An AP Italian Task Force has begun its work; a Task Force for AP Chinese has been assembled and begins work in the spring of 2004. Additional information about the AP World Languages and Culture initiative and other international initiatives can be found at apcentral.collegeboard.com.

(The recent College Board press release regarding the addition of AP Chinese Language and Culture to the portfolio of AP courses and exams is located at:
http://www.collegeboard.com/press/article/0,3183,30831,00.html)

Conclusion

What was once an American program, Advanced Placement has now become truly international. With AP exams now offered in 100 countries from Austria to Zimbabwe, and with AP initiatives under way in every region of the world, the program has indeed gone global. One additional facet of the internationalization of AP is a number of recent cooperative initiatives the College Board has undertaken with the International Baccalaureate Organization. In the fall of 2002, the two organizations conducted a joint session at the College Board National Forum in Atlanta and another at the ECIS fall 2002 Teachers Conference in Berlin (and repeated at both meetings in 2003). Also, the new jointly sponsored and produced AP/IB (IB/AP) brochure debuted in 2002 and was updated for 2003. And finally, a small working group with members of the two organizations has been set up to consider how to bring the benefits of both programs to international teachers.


Robert DiYanni is Director of K-12 International Services at The College Board and Adjunct Professor at New York University. Before joining the Board in 1999, Dr. DiYanni taught English and humanities at City University of New York, Pace, NYU, and Harvard. He has published numerous articles and more than two dozen books on writing, literature and humanities, mostly for university students. He is also a frequent lecturer and international workshop presenter.

apcentral.collegeboard.com