italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Dear Colleagues,
In May, I distributed the following letter to AATI members regarding the
survey that the College Board has posted on their web site. The point of the
survey is to gauge the level of interest in an Advanced Placement program for
Italian. In order to reach the largest possible number of interested
parties, I
am distributing the letter to the Italan Studies list and hope that you will
spread the word about the survey and, if appropriate, respond to it
yourselves.
Thank you very much.
Best wishes.
Chris Kleinhenz, President
American Association of Teachers of Italian
May 15, 2001
Dear Colleagues,
I write to ask your assistance in a matter of extreme urgency for the
teaching of Italian in the K-12 schools and in the colleges and
universities of the United States. As you have read in the AATI
Newsletter, our Association has submitted a well-argued and elaborate
proposal to the College Board, the goal of which is to establish an
Advanced Placement Program and Exam in Italian. We believe that we have a
very good chance of achieving this goal, but we need your help and that of
your colleagues. On its web site — http://www.collegeboard.org/ap/ — the
College Board has put a questionnaire/survey that is intended to assess the
feasibility of establishing an AP program/exam in Italian. It is very
important that as many teachers as possible respond to this survey before
the deadline: June 30, 2001. A questionnaire has also been sent to the
principals of many high schools nationwide to assess the situation. Please
encourage your principal to complete and return this survey as soon as
possible.
On the other side of this page, I reproduce significant portions of the
first two pages of the College Board web site —
http://www.collegeboard.org/ap/ — so that you may see first-hand the
particulars of the survey. To access the survey, you should look at the
section titled "Teacher Opinions Needed!" on the first page of the web site
and then click on "Italian Language"; this will bring up the survey. Thank
you for your assistance in this matter. I hope that you will spread the
word to all the high school teachers you know.
With sincere thanks and best wishes, I am
Cordially yours,
Christopher Kleinhenz
(Page 1) The College Board Advanced Placement Program
Welcome to the AP® pages of the College Board Web site. Explore our site
from any of the starting points to the right, or take a short cut to a
specific topic using our Quick Reference list. AP gives students an
opportunity to take college-level courses and exams while still in high
school. There are 33 courses in 19 subject areas, offered by 13,000
secondary schools around the world; in 2000, 1.2 million exams were taken
by 750,000 students. Students enjoy the challenge of taking AP courses with
enthusiastic classmates and teachers; high school faculty find that AP
courses enhance their students' confidence and academic interest as well as
their school's reputation; and college faculty report that AP students are
far better prepared for serious academic work.
Students & Parents
Teachers
AP Coordinators & Administrators
Colleges & Universities
Research & Development
Understanding How AP Works (our "Technical Corner")
Teacher Opinions Needed!
Many teachers, administrators, and organizations have requested
that the College Board develop additional AP courses in a variety of
subjects. As a first step, to gauge levels of interest and support, we are
surveying AP school principals (via paper) and teachers via this Web site.
Select your subject of interest and voice your opinion: African- American
History; Chinese Language: Mandarin; Dance; Geology; Hebrew; Italian
Language; Japanese Language; Journalism; Russian Language; and Theatre.
(Page 2) Feasibility Study: AP Italian Language
The College Board is exploring the feasibility of offering a new AP
course and exam in Italian language. A first step in this exploration is to
gauge interest and support among secondary school faculty for offering this
course to their students. The following brief questionnaire will help us
gather this important information, which will be used to guide decisions
about next steps. Please let us hear from you!
1. Should the College Board develop a new AP course and exam in Italian
language? (This course would most likely be constructed to represent a
third-year college course in Italian language.) Yes No
2. Are Italian courses currently offered at your high school? Yes No
If your answer is "Yes," please provide the following information about
each course.
Course title Grade in which course is taken # of students completing
course each year
3. If an AP course and exam in Italian language were available, do you
think it would be offered at your school?
Yes No If your answer is "No," please briefly explain why:
4. How confident are you in your current ability to teach a college-level
course in Italian language?
Very confident Confident Somewhat confident Not confident
5. What formal educational training and/or degree(s) do you have in this
discipline?
6. Which of the following professional development opportunities would you
need to familiarize yourself with the AP Program, and to increase your
capability and confidence to teach an AP Italian Language course? Please
check all that apply, and/or provide your own suggestions.
1- or 2-day training workshops
1-week Summer Institute
2-week Summer Institute
Online teacher professional development courses
Other
Chris Kleinhenz
Dept. of French and Italian
University of Wisconsin - Madison
1220 Linden Drive
618 Van Hise Bldg.
Madison, WI 53706
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