ARP HIGH SCHOOL

ADVANCED PLACEMENT ENGLISH

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Program Description

The AP English Language and Composition course is designed to help students become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and to become skilled writers who can compose for a variety of purposes. By their writing and reading in this course, students should become aware of the interactions among a writer's purposes, audience expectations, and subjects, as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effective writing.

§ Purpose

AP gives students an opportunity to take college-level courses while still in high school and to prepare them to take the AP exams. AP courses enhance students' confidence and academic interest. Furthermore, according to college faculty, AP students are far better prepared for serious academic work.

§ When

The Arp English AP program has existed since the 1996-’97 school year.

§ Number of Students Served

The English AP program currently serves thirty-five students.

§ Student Identification Process

Currently, any eleventh and twelfth grade student is welcomed to participate in the AP English program.

§ Student Services

Students attend class on a daily basis for the entire school year.

§ Differentiation for G/T Students

Input: The AP Language and Composition course assumes that students already understand and use standard English grammar. The intense concentration on language use in this course should enhance their ability to use grammatical conventions both appropriately and with sophistication as well as to develop stylistic maturity in their prose.

Stylistic development is nurtured by emphasizing the following:

· a balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail;

· a wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively;

· a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination;

· a logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis; and

· an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure.

Process: This year the program will use genre as an organizing principle as well as the study of language itself -- differences between oral and written discourse, formal and informal language, historical changes in speech and writing, which is a useful strategy.

Product: Students should write in informal as well as formal contexts to gain authority and to learn to take risks in writing. Imitation exercises, journal keeping, collaborative writing, and in-class responses are all good ways of helping students become increasingly aware of themselves as writers and of the techniques employed by other writers. Students should also read a wide variety of prose styles from many disciplines and historical periods to gain an understanding of the connections between interpretive skill in reading and writing.

§ Curriculum Alignment and Learning Opportunities

§ Appropriate Staff Training

Teachers are certified in thirty hours of gifted/talented training.

§ Professional Staff Development (above thirty hours)

Yearly, the AP teacher attends week-long conferences that are sponsored by the college board. Additionally, the teacher has attended training in 4-MAT, Character Counts, Vertical Teaming, etc.

§ Coordination with other Programs

§ Information Provided to Parents

Parents receive a description of the AP program at the beginning at the beginning of the school year.

2. Student Evaluation

Students take the College Board Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Exam or the English Literature and Composition Exam.

3. Program Effectiveness Evaluation

Parents will be surveyed at the beginning of the year to assess where the program’s strengths and weaknesses lie. A survey in the spring will allow us to determine where we have grown.

Student accomplishments in UIL literary events (such as Literary Criticism and Poetry and Prose Interpretation) and the AP exams also help indicate the program’s effectiveness.

*Information on the AP course description and purpose are from the College Board website at www.collegeboard.org.