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Home > The Program > AP Toolkit > AP World Languages
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AP World Languages
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Background and History
At the March 2003 meeting of the College Board Trustees, the following resolution was put forward by a member of the Academic Assembly Council, and adopted unanimously:
The AP® Program staff will present to the Trustees a plan for development, support, and implementation of new AP courses and examinations in world languages as a first step in a commitment by the College Board to furthering multiculturalism and multilingualism in secondary education. The plan for AP courses in world languages will be brought to the Trustees no later than September 2003 for review and action by that body.
In response to this resolution, and in order to develop proposals for new world language courses and exams, AP Program staff initiated a series of exploratory activities including surveys, committee and council information gathering sessions, and strategic discussions.
AP Program staff took into consideration the most recent survey of AP school principals, information drawn from the Board's Foreign Language Academic Advisory Committee and the Academic Assembly Council, and strategic conversations among AP Program staff and representatives of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and other disciplinary associations. From this research, there was clear evidence that language and culture courses and exams in AP Japanese, Italian, Chinese (Mandarin), and Russian could be added to the AP portfolio and receive immediate support from both the secondary and higher education community. These four languages are among the most commonly taught and have the most rapidly growing enrollments of world language courses not currently in the AP portfolio. The College Board has sought assistance from numerous education organizations and foundations to support professional development, school recruitment, and publicity, and has also sought financial support to develop these new AP courses and exams.
Development Process
Task Force -- As the first step in developing a new course, the AP Program seeks nominations for Task Force members from various professional associations within each discipline. Each Task Force consists of 12 to 14 highly experienced, accomplished individuals from both the secondary and university levels. In addition to considering their obvious academic and professional qualifications, the selection process ensures that the Task Force represents the diversity of the field in terms of geographic location; gender; institution type (private or public); and urban, suburban, and rural settings. Over the course of an academic year, the Task Force convenes three times. Its main responsibility is to create the draft Course Description and initial exam specifications.
Development Committee -- Once completed, the work of the Task Force is refined over the next academic year by the Development Committee, a smaller group composed of several members of the existing Task Force and several new nominees. The Development Committee is responsible for refining the Course Description, finalizing exam specifications, writing exam questions, and assembling the first forms of the exam. The Development Committee also contributes to the design and implementation of the first iterations of professional development experiences for prospective teachers of the new AP course.
The Task Force and Development Committee's combined initial work takes place over approximately two academic years, with the Development Committee continuing its appointment and work beyond the inaugural course offering and exam administration.
For more information on the individual languages, select from the list below.
 AP Italian Language and Culture
AP Russian Language and Culture
AP Chinese Language and Culture
AP Japanese Language and Culture
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