Starting in the 2021-2022 school year, Spring Branch ISD schools will no longer offer any Pre-AP courses.
The move comes after the College Board announced that it will start charging school districts $3,000 per course to use the Pre-AP label and get Pre-AP material. Starting this coming school year, courses that had been known as Pre-AP courses will now be known as advanced academic courses or AACs.
“We already have tight budgets, so we really had to take a strong look at our finances and expenditures,” said Spring Branch ISD Director of Advanced Academic Studies Tracy Scholz. “After evaluating the costs and terms and everything that was included, we made the decision — like most school districts around us and most districts in Texas — to change the name of our courses so we’re not financially obligated to pay the College Board for the name Pre-AP.”
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The College Board’s Pre-AP program launched for the 2018-2019 school year.
Per the College Board website, “Pre-AP courses deliver grade-level appropriate instruction through focused course frameworks, instructional resources, learning checkpoints, and collaborative educator workshops.”
When Spring Branch ISD middle and high school students select their courses for the upcoming school year early next semester, they will see the courses labeled such as Biology AAC or English AAC.
The district has provided communications about this to parents and students to help them better select the courses that are best for them.
The College Board does offer school districts some open source material, and Scholz said they will use that as well as content that teachers that had taught Pre-AP courses have already developed.
“We are continually going to be working on improving rigor to better prepare our students for AP classes,” she said. “Really it’s just a name change that’s happening. The kids are still going to get high-quality rigorous classroom instruction.”
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Scholz explained that she is not concerned about the effect that the different terminology will have on students’ resumes.
She said the move is widespread, so she thinks colleges are well aware about school districts renaming their Pre-AP courses.
The AAC courses will still be coded as advanced courses and transcripts will include a note indicating that they were formerly known as Pre-AP courses.
elliott.lapin@hearst.com
December 22, 2020 at 11:30PM
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Spring Branch ISD drops Pre-AP label in wake of College Board’s decision - Houston Chronicle
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