Columbus High selected for prestigious AP Capstone program

Columbus High School will be the only Georgia school outside the Atlanta metro area to offer the newest Advanced Placement courses next school year, the Muscogee County School District has announced.

The program is called AP Capstone, designed to equip students with the independent research, collaborative teamwork and communication skills increasingly valued by colleges, according to the College Board, the New York-based nonprofit organization that administers the AP courses, which allow high school students to earn college credit, and the SAT college entrance exam.

AP Capstone comprises two courses: AP Seminar and AP Research.

AP Seminar requires students to choose two to four issues to study.

“Students question, research, explore, pose solutions, develop arguments, collaborate and communicate using various media,” says the program’s webpage.

AP Seminar is a prerequisite for AP Research, which “allows students to design, plan and conduct a yearlong research-based investigation on a topic of individual interest, documenting their process with a portfolio.”

When the 2017-18 academic year begins, Columbus High will be among approximately 1,000 schools worldwide to offer the AP Capstone program, according to MCSD’s news release.

“This innovative program gets a broader and more diverse student population ready for college and beyond,” said Columbus High principal Marvin Crumbs said in the release. “The program gives our teachers more flexibility with curriculum choices, so their students can access more challenging coursework and sharpen their reading and writing skills.”

AP Capstone started last year as a pilot program with approximately 400 schools and now has approximately 650 this year, an AP representative said in a telephone interview Monday with the Ledger-Enquirer.

Schools must apply to be accepted into AP Capstone, the spokeswoman said. Although she said she doesn’t know the acceptance rate and wouldn’t estimate, she added, “It’s not granted to everybody. They have to explain why they want to implement the program and how they will benefit from it. … They must reapply (each year).”

Educators who teach in AP Capstone must first pass a 30-hour certification course during the summer. The course costs $1,275 and usually is funded as professional development by the school district or school, the spokeswoman said.

This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Columbus High selected for prestigious AP Capstone program."