|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
United States Government and Politics Course Requirements
|
|
| |
The AP Program unequivocally supports the principle that each individual school must develop its own curriculum for courses labeled "AP." Rather than mandating any one curriculum for AP courses, the AP Course Audit instead provides each AP teacher with a set of expectations that college and secondary school faculty nationwide have established for college-level courses. AP teachers are encouraged to develop or maintain their own curriculum that either includes or exceeds each of these expectations; such courses will be authorized to use the "AP" designation. Credit for the success of AP courses belongs to the individual schools and teachers that create powerful, locally designed AP curricula.
The AP U.S. Government and Politics course should be designed by your school to provide students with a learning experience equivalent to that of an introductory college course in United States government and politics. Your course should give students an analytical perspective on government and politics in the United States, including the study of general concepts used to interpret U.S. politics and the analysis of specific examples. The course should develop students' familiarity with the various institutions, groups, beliefs, and ideas that constitute U.S. politics.
There are no specific curricular prerequisites for students taking AP U.S. Government and Politics, although previous course work in U.S. history is recommended.
All students who are willing to accept the challenge of a rigorous academic curriculum should be considered for admission to AP courses. The College Board encourages the elimination of barriers that restrict access to AP courses for students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the AP Program. Schools should make every effort to ensure that their AP classes reflect the diversity of their student population.
High schools offering this exam must provide the exam administration resources described in the AP Coordinator's Manual.
Requirements
To request authorization to label a course "AP," complete the following two steps:
- Complete and submit an AP Course Audit form, on which the teacher and principal attest that their course includes or exceeds the following curricular requirements delineated by college and university faculty.
- Submit an electronic copy of the course syllabus that demonstrates inclusion or improvement on the curricular requirements (see Syllabus Preparation Guidelines). If your course does not include one or more of the curricular requirements but merits designation as a college-level course, see Instructions for Submitting Materials for the process for describing alternate approaches to the course.
 Syllabus Preparation Guidelines
Instructions for Teachers
Instructions on how to submit AP Course Audit materials via the Web will be posted on AP Central and mailed to principals in January 2007.
Curricular Requirements
- The teacher has read the most recent AP Government and Politics Course Description, available as a free download on the AP United States Government and Politics Course Home Page.
AP United States Government and Politics Course Home Page
- The course provides instruction in each of the following six topics outlined in the Course Description:
- Constitutional Underpinnings of United States Government
- Political Beliefs and Political Behaviors
- Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Mass Media
- Institutions of National Government
- Public Policy
- Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
- The course provides students with practice in analyzing and interpreting data and other information relevant to U.S. government and politics.
- The course includes supplemental readings, including primary source materials (such as The Federalist Papers) and contemporary news analyses that strengthen student understanding of the curriculum.
- The course requires students to answer analytical and interpretive free-response questions on a frequent basis.
Resource Requirements
- The school ensures that each student has a college-level U.S. government and politics textbook (supplemented when necessary to meet the curricular requirements) as well as copies of primary sources for individual use inside and outside of the classroom.
- The school ensures that each student has access to news sources in order to learn current examples and applications that may not be in the textbook.
- The school ensures that the teacher has copies of additional college-level U.S. government and politics textbooks or other appropriate college-level books for his or her own consultation, including the most recent edition of one of these.
|
|
|
|
|
|
