Century High School PTSO (Athletic and Music Boosters too)

CIC 1/24/02 Meeting Report

A Note from CIC

The Continuous Improvement Council (CIC) held its second meeting on Thursday, January 24, 2002 at Carroll Community College. The issues addressed at this meeting were Middle School Schedules & Programs and Advanced Placement Programs & Courses.

Supervisors for the Middle Schools discussed the importance of educating students during this time of personal change. "Middle Schoolers" need more person to person interaction than elementary & high schoolers because of all the hormonal changes during these years. The benefits of the "Middle School" are:
The Interdisciplinary Teams, Team time for Greater Flexibility, Teacher Focus on the Students, and they are Child-centered.

At the high school level, supervisors and representatives discussed the Advanced Placement (AP) Program. AP courses give secondary school students the opportunity to participate in challenging college-level course work while in high school. Students can receive credit, advanced placement, or both. Though no one is excluded from the program, the process should begin in 9th grade with students taking challenging courses in the Level 3 or Level 4 programs. There are currently 35 AP courses, and AP exams are offered in the areas of English, Language, Math, Fine Arts, Science & Social Studies.

After a student completes an AP course, he/she may elect not to take the AP exam. AP courses are beneficial regardless because it better prepares the student for college. Some important facts about
Advanced Placement Exams are:
· After course work, the exam is given during the regular school day; usually in May; exam is about 3 hours long.
· Exam fee is $78.00 - ($22.00 reduction fee as approved for financial need)
· Can earn up to 6 college credits.
· Registration for exam is in late February to early March.
· Scoring for the exam is on a 1-5 scale:
5 - Extremely well qualified 4 - Well Qualified 3 - Qualified
2 - Possible Qualified 1 - No Recommendation
Usually a 3-5 score is required for college credit. Each college differs in what score they will accept. Testing does not automatically exempt a student from college freshman classes, it may just earn college credits. This depends on the college & the area of study.
· Nationally, English exams are the most taken.

One last important fact relayed by the faculty was that colleges are not only looking at SAT scores, they are looking carefully at student transcripts to see how students have challenged themselves in their course work throughout high school, ESPECIALLY during senior year. A challenging senior year is VERY IMPORTANT.