FISD rolls out AP Capstone course

Consisting of two year long classes, the program will debut at Heritage, Liberty, Reedy and Wakeland

The second semester is just beginning, but the school district is already rolling out plans for a new AP course starting with the 2016-17 school year. Starting this fall, AP Capstone will be offered on several FISD campuses for students wishing for “a foundational course that engages students in cross-curricular conversations that explore the complexities of academic and real-world topics and issues by analyzing divergent perspectives.”

To help get the word out, on Tuesday and Wednesday at 6 p.m., the district will be holding an information night for parents and students.

AP Capstone consists of AP Seminar and AP Research with AP Seminar the prerequisite for AP Research. However, students are not required to take both classes.

“The course is an elective toward graduation requirements,” lead counselor Stefanie Mueller said.

Students will not have to apply. Similar to other AP courses, the seminar class will be open enrollment.

— Lead counselor Stephanie Mueller

Although the class is an elective, it’s intended to be an inventive, original class.

“AP Capstone is an innovative new pair of courses being offered by the College Board that is geared toward teaching core academic skills that are necessary for success in college and many careers,” FISD Advanced Academics Coordinator Krishna Chetty said. “What makes it different is that focus on skills and not content, so students will have more freedom in the topics that he or she studies.”

With the announcement of the new course, the search for eligible teachers is underway.

“We are a partnered campus with Centennial High School and so we will look at teachers both here at Liberty and at Centennial that are interested in teaching AP Capstone, and they will go through an interview process,” assistant principal Kristen Sommers said. “We’ll know after students fill out all their course requests with the counselors, so sometime after spring break or in the late spring, we’ll know how many students are interested in taking the course, and that will help us to drive how many teachers we need and how many sections of the course that we’ll offer.”

Like the Independent Study and Mentorship Program (ISM), AP Capstone allows students to choose their field of study.

“Initially, the teacher will choose some topics through which students will be taught the research skills, but after this, students have significant freedom to choose a topic of interest to them,” Chetty said. “The goal is just to pick a topic or issue from which there are multiple perspectives you can research. These topics can come from areas like art, natural science, social science, history, or literature. It really is any place that you see a problem or issue about which you can then research and offer solutions.”

Although AP Capstone seems similar to ISM, there are some distinct differences between the two.

“The main difference between ISM and AP Capstone is in the mentorship aspect,” Sommers said. “For those students who are really focused on researching a career and following that path, having that mentor and getting that valuable insight into that career occupation is going to be something that ISM is going to offer that AP Capstone is going to be more focused on the research and the writing aspects.”

Not only that, the classroom environments are expected to be a bit different as well.

“As opposed to a normal classroom, a significant amount of this class will be self-directed,” Chetty said. “The teacher will initially be pretty involved in teaching the research skills; however, students will be expected to utilize those skills much of the time after that.”

Unlike ISM, AP Capstone will not include an interview process.

“Students will not have to apply,” Mueller said. “Similar to other AP courses, the seminar class will be open enrollment.”

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According to Sommers, the choice of choosing between ISM and AP Capstone rests in the individual student’s interests.

“ISM will absolutely be offered as a course because AP Capstone and ISM serve very different purposes,” Sommers said. “While there are some overlaps in the research and the writing skills, they’re very different courses, and so that’s going to be more based on student interest and what students really want to get out of the course as to which way they would go.”

We really see this class as a possible gateway into an AP course for those students who are hesitant to take AP coursework.

— FISD Advanced Academics Coordinator Krishna Chetty

Along with the experience of the AP Capstone class, there are other expected benefits.

“The main benefits of the course are that you are acquiring critical skills in analysis, writing and research that are valued by colleges and the workplace, gaining freedom to study topics of your own choosing, and possibly earning an academic distinction that will help you stand out in college applications,” Chetty said. “If you finish both AP Seminar and AP Research and get a 3 or higher in both courses, you earn the AP Seminar and Research Certificate. If you accomplish that and also pass 4 other AP Courses with a 3 or higher, you earn the AP Capstone Diploma.”

Although a new course, AP Capstone could lay the groundwork for a student’s high school career.

“First, we think it can really complement and enhance a student’s AP experience for those enrolled in other AP classes,” Chetty said. “Second, we really see this class as a possible gateway into an AP course for those students who are hesitant to take AP coursework. Since this class is skills based, it can really help students in all of their classes and hopefully give them the confidence to try other AP courses as well.”