New York — The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education has approved a policy guaranteeing college credit at the state’s public four-year universities and two-year community and technical colleges to students earning qualifying scores through the College Board’s Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) and College-Level Examination Program® (CLEP®) exams. The policy, which was approved in April and goes into effect in fall 2012, is designed to help students reduce college costs while also increasing the number of students graduating on time.
Recent high school graduates as well as returning and current college students can take advantage of this new opportunity. To earn college credit through this new policy, high school students need to achieve a qualifying score of 3 or higher on an AP Exam, while students of all ages need to earn a qualifying score of 50 or higher on a CLEP exam. The credit-granting policy was established by a statewide team of Kentucky’s leading college faculty and administrative leaders.
College Board President Gaston Caperton said, “The state of Kentucky has taken an important step to make college completion more attainable and more affordable for its citizens. We look forward to working with educators in Kentucky to increase student success throughout the state.”
The AP Program offers rigorous college-level courses and examinations that foster an emphasis in the high school classroom on critical thinking, analysis, and writing. The program encourages students to think critically, construct solid arguments and consider many sides of an issue — all skills that prepare students for success in college and beyond. CLEP enables students of all ages to demonstrate college-level achievement through a program of exams aligned with undergraduate college courses. Students can use both AP and CLEP examinations to demonstrate mastery of college-level material and to earn college credit or exemption from introductory college courses.
“Allowing students to earn college credit while in high school and to earn credit by completion of CLEP exams will enhance their postsecondary education opportunities,” said Representative Carl P. Rollins (D-KY). “By requiring public colleges and universities to standardize acceptable AP and CLEP scores as well as create a clearly defined pathway from community college course work to four-year degree program completion, Kentucky is making significant progress in establishing a seamless pathway to postsecondary success.”
The new policy is the result of House Bill 160 — passed during Kentucky’s 2010 legislative session — which proposed that the state’s two- and four-year public postsecondary schools (community, technical colleges and the state’s public university system) work more closely with high schools to maximize opportunities for students to pursue college-level course work.
“University faculty understand the importance of increasing the number of Kentuckians who have access to a college education. Encouraging students to prepare for college by taking the highest level of scholastic course work available in high school is an important step toward this goal,” said Benjamin C. Withers, a professor and the chair of the Department of Art at the University of Kentucky. “For this reason, faculty at all of Kentucky’s public institutions of higher education were fully engaged in the process of standardizing the award process for AP and CLEP credit in support of this statewide policy.”
About the Advanced Placement Program
The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) enables willing and academically prepared students to pursue college-level studies — with the opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement or both — while still in high school. Through AP courses in 34 subjects, each culminating in a rigorous exam, students learn tothink critically, construct solid arguments and see many sides of an issue — skills that prepare them for college and beyond. Taking AP courses demonstrates to college admission officers that students have sought the most rigorous curriculum available to them, and research indicates that students who score a 3 or higher on an AP Exam typically experience greater academic success in college and are more likely to earn a college degree than non-AP students. Each AP teacher’s syllabus is evaluated and approved by faculty from some of the nation’s leading colleges and universities, and AP Exams are developed and scored by college faculty and experienced AP teachers. Most four-year colleges and universities in the United States grant credit, advanced placement or both on the basis of successful AP Exam scores — more than 3,600 institutions worldwide annually receive AP scores. In the last decade, participation in the AP Program has more than doubled, and graduates succeeding on AP Exams have nearly doubled. In May 2011, nearly 2 million students representing more than 18,000 schools around the world, both public and nonpublic, took 3.4 million AP Exams.
About the College Level Examination Program(CLEP)
Developed by the College Board, CLEP® is the most widely accepted credit-by-examination program in the nation, working with over 2,900 colleges and universities and administered in over 1,700 test centers. This rigorous program offers traditional and nontraditional students the opportunity to earn college credit for demonstrating mastery of course content in any of the 33 exams. Students who earn credit through CLEP perform better in subsequent upper-level courses and complete their degrees at a higher rate.
About the College Board
The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT® and the Advanced Placement Program®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators and schools. For further information, visit www.collegeboard.org.
Media Contact:
Sandra Riley The College Board 212-713-8052 communications@collegeboard.org