AP Newsletter

We hope this finds you well and enjoying the last few days of summer. We also hope this finds you and yours in good health and safety. As summer begins to wind down, Joe and I would like to welcome back all of our returning teachers and share our excitement in welcoming new members to our team. New AP team members joining our team are :

Berkner High School:

Art- Clay Rogers

Math- Matthew Trent

Social Studies- Kennedy Crank and Andrew Ducote

Spanish Literature- Zayra Lara

Lake Highlands High School:

English- Aimee Washmon

Pearce High School:

Social Studies - Emily Dragoo

Richardson High School:

English- Mindy May

Science- Damien Flores

Social Studies- Martin Russell

Lake Highlands JH:

Spanish - Mayra Saenz

It is an uncertain time and we just wanted you all to know we are thinking about you and trying to do what we can from our department to ease your start into the school year. It is going to be more important this year than ever to make sure we are communicating as much as possible. If you have new AP teachers on your teams that we might have missed, please let Joe know by email (joseph.russell@risd.org) so we can make sure to include them on necessary communications.

To help start the year, we thought it would be best to communicate what we do know regarding AP courses. We will apologize up front for how much uncertainty still exists and hope that sharing what we know at this time can provide you with some comfort.

We have been given permission to have a virtual AP day on August 13th. Hopefully, we will have some more concrete info to share then. We do have AP scores and such to share and we are very pleased to say that our overall AP performance did increase. This is a huge testament to your hard work last spring in helping our students navigate an entire new way of learning with a virtual format and online testing.

During our virtual time together on the 13th, we want to give ample time for your teams to talk, confer, and plan as needed. One of the issues that has come up is that when we begin face to face classes we need to make sure that kids do not miss important instruction if they transfer from virtual to face-to-face learning. I am sure many of you have heard about the district’s virtual synchronous school plan. In that plan, a student must commit to virtual learning for a 9 week grading period if they choose a virtual option. However, we are not certain at all how the instruction of those virtual classes will look, so we must make sure there is some commonality across all four high schools in terms of scope and sequence and pacing. So, part of the work on the 13th will be for your teams to reasonably align your sequence and pacing across all four campuses. Our impressions from speaking to several of you already are that we are in fairly solid shape as far as that goes, so hopefully this will not take much of your time. Please note that we want you guys to handle this within your team. We know you are the experts in your courses and will make the best decisions for our kids.

AP teachers are able to see the actual AP exams of their students who received a score of 1 or 2. If the teacher then feels that the exam was improperly scored, the teacher can contact the College Board to request a review. These requests must come from teachers, so students who received a 1 or 2 and who suspect a scoring error should contact their teacher.

Requirements:

• You must be the AP teacher of the 2019-20 course section in which the student is enrolled in AP Registration and Ordering. Requests may not be submitted by administrators, counselors, parents, or others.
• Score Adjudication requests can only be submitted for AP Exam scores of 1 or 2.
• To submit the request by July 31, you need secure teacher access to:
• Identifying information for the student, including the student’s AP ID The student’s response(s) from the AP 2020 Student Response Portal https://ap2020studentresponses.collegeboard.org/
• The free-response question(s) and scoring guidelines from AP Classroom https://myap.collegeboard.org/login

Students wanting to appeal a score of 3 or 4 (so, a score that can't go through the teacher-driven adjudication process) should call AP services for students to discuss the process. Teachers and coordinators cannot request this; the student must do it.

"The College Board recognizes that while 3s and 4s earn college credit at many universities, we encourage students to strive for excellence, and if they desire their exams be given another look, we are working with them on the student line."

888-225-5427 or apstudents@info.collegeboard.org

Thank you to those of you who were able to to attend an APSI training this summer. If you attended a session through TCU, they will not release your certificate until the bill is paid. TCU is supposed to submit a final bill to my office so we can pay them for everyone's training at one time. As soon as we receive the bill, we will pay it and they will release your certificates to you.

When you receive your certificate, please do the follwing:

1. Email one copy to Carolyn.Crise@risd.org so we can submit it to the State of Texas.

2. Upload a copy and submit through True North Logic for your professional development hours.

During the 20-21 school year, teachers will be expected to complete a total of 18 professional development hours. Here are options as to how APSI and GT training's can be used.

• August 10- 6 hours will be earned at your home campus before school starts

• 8 hours content(non-duty) - APSI and GT training's are available for this category and are aligned with professional/student growth goals for the year.

• 2 hours Social and Emotional Learning– APSI and GT are not available for this category

• 2 hours Cultural Competency- APSI and GT are not available for this category

• Extended Learning- remaining hours can be captured in this category. Extended learning is a PD bank which allows teachers an opportunity to capture additional hours and have them available on their PD transcript for future use with TEA and reapplying for their teaching certification.

Example for APSI Hours: - (Most APSI training's are available for 30 hours.)

• When you upload your certificate to True North Logic you need to request the following:

• 8 hours content (non-duty)

• 22 hours extended learning

Example for GT Hours: - (The total number of hours will depend upon how many hours you earned.)

• Region X Pick 6 Topic 8 - 3 hours credit

• 3 hours content (non-duty)

• 3 hours of GT

Can an APSI training also be used for GT hours?

• If a teacher has never attended the initial 30 state-mandated GT hours, they can use 18 of their APSI hours for GT Days 3-5 since they are strictly for academic training purposes.

• If PAP/AP teachers have completed their initial 30 hours of GT training and only need a 6-hour update, teachers can choose from any of our 6 hour update options. An APSI cannot be used for an 6 hour update.

How do I know what kinds of GT PD hours are required each year?

• GT PD Hours FAQ - https://bit.ly/GTPDFAQ

• Summer options for GT PD hours- http://bit.ly/GTPDHOURS
  

• How to Pick GT Professional Learning Hours - https://bit.ly/PickGTPDDirections

How do I upload my certificates from APSI and GT trainings and when are they due?

• Directions to upload - http://bit.ly/2kwGzmN

• APSI certificate due September 30, 2020

• GT certificate(s) due April 16, 2021

Email: ccr@g.risd.org
Website: http://www.richardson.k12.tx.us/
Location: 701 West Belt Line Road, Richardson, TX, USA
Phone: 469-593-0248
Twitter: @RISDCCR