Aventa Learning Announces College Board Approval Of 22 Advanced Placement Courses

Portland, OR - Aventa Learning, (www.aventalearning.com) a leading provider of online learning content and services to K-12 educational institutions, announced recently that the College Board, a nonprofit association that owns and administers the Advanced Placement Program, has approved all 22 of Aventa Learning's Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

Advanced Placement courses have historically been offered in a traditional high school setting and are comparable to college-level courses. According to the College Journal, the number of schools offering AP classes has jumped 36% over the past decade to over 15,000, however the content and rigor of AP courses has varied widely from one high school to the next.

Starting with course offerings in the 2007-08 school year, the College Board is requiring authorization for the use of its AP label and is mandating schools to submit a syllabus for evaluation to ensure that all AP courses offer college-level curriculum. Colleges will also receive a list of high schools that have received College Board approval to teach AP courses. Aventa Learning is one of only two distance learning companies in the nation to provide high schools with more than 20 approved online AP courses ranging from science, social science, math, history, English and foreign language classes.

"We support the College Board's efforts to maintain consistency and set a high standard for Advanced Placement courses," said Steve Brown, CEO of KC Distance Learning, which operates Aventa Learning. "We believe the AP audit is a positive process that will enhance the AP curriculum as a whole. The College Board's approval of all 22 of Aventa Learning's AP courses demonstrates that our curriculum meets their high quality standards and provides high schools across the nation with the ability to offer students the opportunity to learn at a higher level as they prepare for the transition to college."

"In the past few years, we have seen a growth in demand for AP courses throughout the State of Wisconsin. Aventa Learning provides high quality, flexible online curriculum that increases course options for districts and the students they serve. College Board approval of Aventa AP courses provides assurances to school districts that Aventa courses are of the highest quality," said Dawn Nordine, Director Wisconsin Virtual School & CESA 9 Instructional Technology (www.wisconsinvirtualschool.org).

A recent Department of Education study reports that a secondary school curriculum of high academic intensity and quality – such as that found in AP courses – has a more significant effect on bachelor's degree completion than more traditional academic measures, such as grade point average or class rank. According to the College Board, in 2003, over one million students took AP Exams and over 3,000 colleges and universities accepted qualifying AP Exam grades from those students for credit and/or placement. "As demand for AP courses continue to grow, we will continue to provide schools with an expanded offering of accepted AP options for their students and, in turn, help students maximize their learning opportunities," adds Brown.

SOURCE: Aventa Learning