Education Director says more schools need to use AP program

More Iowa school districts are enrolling students in “advanced placement” courses on the Internet, but the state’s top education official says more schools need to get with the program. Department of Education director Ted Stilwell says 200 Iowa school districts have high schoolers enrolled in the “Iowa Online A-P Academy”. Last year, 530 Iowa high school students took the online “advanced placement” or A-P courses which can translate into college credits. Stilwell says students can take a “College Board” test, and most colleges will accept a passing grade on that test and give the student college credit for the course. About 36-hundred students who graduated from Iowa high schools this past May took the College Board tests.Stilwell says while the test isn’t appropriate for every student, he believes more Iowa high schoolers can and should be taking the courses and the tests. More information about the “Iowa Online A-P Academy” is available at www.iowaAPacademy.org. Also today, the state announced Iowa high school graduates who took the S-A-T this past year scored above the national average — and about the same in the math and verbal tests as the graduating class of 2001.