Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Advanced Placement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pine Creek High School to add AP Capstone program beginning with AP Seminar next year
Summary
Pine Creek presenters told the board the school will begin AP Seminar next fall, add AP Research in 2026, and aims to expand AP participation and college readiness; they cited current AP pass rates and goals to reach higher AP School Honor Roll recognition.
Pine Creek High School staff told the board they are adding the College Board AP Capstone program to their advanced academics offerings, beginning with AP Seminar next fall and AP Research in 2026.
TJ Earhart and Heather Scott described AP Capstone as a skills‑focused program that emphasizes team research projects, individual academic writing and an end‑of‑course exam. Earhart said Pine Creek aims to give students the option to earn an AP Capstone Certificate (passing AP Seminar and AP Research with scores of 3 or higher) and the AP Capstone Diploma (seminar and research plus scores of 3 or higher on four additional AP exams).
Pine Creek presented current AP metrics to justify the expansion: the school reported a high AP exam pass rate and staff said the school had 691 students taking exams this year (a total of 1,217 AP exams) with about 79% scoring 3 or higher on the latest reporting year referenced by presenters. Staff said reaching AP Capstone would help the school move from silver toward gold status on the AP School Honor Roll.
Why it matters: The AP Capstone pathway is intended to increase college‑readiness skills — notably independent research, argumentation and collaborative communication — and to provide students additional ways to distinguish themselves in college admissions.
Next steps: Pine Creek identified instructors for AP Seminar and outlined a multi‑year rollout (AP Seminar next academic year; AP Research to follow) and said they will monitor participation to help more students access rigorous coursework.
Provenance: Presentation began with Pine Creek introduction and concluded after detailed explanation of AP Seminar and AP Research components. (Topic provenance: SEG 271–SEG 490.)
