Scholars Online Curriculum and the AP Program

We’ve had a number of inquiries about our AP programs at Scholars Online.

While we endeavor to help our students gain recognition for their work through the AP program where appropriate, we have focussed on creating a curriculum that meets our primary mission: to provide a rigorous classical Christian education for our students. There are cases where our mission and the AP program are at odds.

To use the term “AP Course” and offer AP credit requires approval of the course syllabus by the College Board review team. In some cases, Scholars Online teachers have elected to create and submit a course syllabus for review (a lengthy process, for which the teacher does not receive remuneration, and one which has to be repeated every 2-3 years at the whim of the College Board). Three of our science courses have received official approval in the past to grant AP credit on school transcripts, providing students complete all required lab work. Students must still take the AP exam for exam credit; some elect to do so and others do not.

For some of our other courses, the teachers have determined that the College Board requirements for the delivery of material are in fact not in the best interests of students following a classical Christian education curriculum with its emphasis on close analysis and critical thinking. While these courses meet and exceed requirements to cover specific material and topics in preparation for the AP and SAT subject exams (and our students do very well on these exams), we cannot grant official AP credit for these courses. Again, students must take the AP exam for exam credit.

Even when students have AP courses on their transcript, or score well on the AP exams, individual colleges and universities differ widely in how they use AP credit and AP exam results for admission or course credit, and that there is a growing controversy over the usefulness of the College Board testing program. If you are a parent of students who will not be attending college for several years yet, you should be aware that the entire AP/SAT/CLEP/ACT exam system is changing, and this may affect your choice of courses and how you validate your students’ work.

In the list below, links to the entire SO sequence are given, so that you may see how each individual course fits into the overall Scholars Online curriculum.

Official AP courses at Scholars Online  [Scholars Online Science Sequence]

  • AP Biology (current AP syllabus approved 2013)
  • AP Chemistry (past AP syllabus approved 2009; new syllabus under review for 2014-2015 academic year)
  • AP Physics (past AP syllabus approved 2010; new syllabus under review for 2014-2015 academic year)

Courses at Scholars Online meeting or exceeding preparation requirements for subject AP Exam

As always, parents should consult with our independent curriculum advisor, Mrs. LaJuana Decker, with any questions on whether our courses are appropriate for their students. She may be reached at acadsupport@scholarsonine.org.

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