Lockerby to Participate in Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone™ Program

Lockerby to Participate in Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone™ Program
Program Focuses on Inquiry, Research and Writing Skills

Lockerby Composite School is among 1,000 schools worldwide to implement AP Capstone™, an innovative Advanced Placement diploma program that allows students to develop skills for postsecondary success – research, collaboration and communication.

The program consists of two courses taken in sequence, AP® Seminar and AP Research, which were developed with direct feedback from postsecondary institutions. Lockerby Composite School will offer AP Seminar in the fall of 2017. Students who achieve standings in keeping with the program have an opportunity to earn an AP Seminar and Research Certificate™.

“Lockerby Composite School’s Science Technology Education Program (STEP) provides foundation skills that lend themselves well to the program,” said Principal Craig Runciman. “For this reason, Lockerby is the only school in North America to be granted this program without already offering Advanced Placement courses.”

The AP Seminar course, typically taken in Grade 11, gives students the ability to look at real-world issues from multiple perspectives. Through a variety of materials, from articles to research studies to foundational and philosophical texts, students tackle complex questions; understand and evaluate opposing viewpoints; interpret and synthesize information; and construct, communicate, and defend evidence-based arguments.

Education, innovation, sustainability and technology are examples of themes or topics covered in AP Seminar. Teachers have the flexibility to choose subject content based on student interests, whether local, regional, national or global.

By tapping into personal interests, AP Capstone™ gives students from a wide range of backgrounds an entry point into stimulating coursework. Students are assessed through a team project and presentation, an individual project and presentation, and an end-of-course written exam.

In the subsequent AP Research course, which is taken in Grade 12, students design, plan and conduct a yearlong research-based investigation on a topic of individual interest, documenting their process with a portfolio. Students build on skills developed in the AP Seminar course by learning how to understand research methodology; employ ethical research practices; and collect, analyze and synthesize information to build, present and defend an argument.

About the Advanced Placement Program

The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) enables willing and academically prepared students to pursue university-level studies – with the opportunity to earn university credit, advanced placement, or both – while still in high school.

Through AP courses in 34 subjects, each culminating in a rigorous exam, students learn to think critically, construct solid arguments, and see many sides of an issue, skills that prepare them for university and beyond.

Taking AP courses demonstrates to university admission officers that students have sought the most rigorous curriculum available to them, and research indicates that students who score a 3 or higher on an AP Exam typically experience greater academic success in university and are more likely to earn a university degree.

Each AP teacher’s syllabus is evaluated and approved by faculty from some of North America’s leading universities, and AP Exams are developed and scored by university faculty and experienced AP teachers.

In May 2016, 2.6 million students representing more than 21,000 schools around the world, both public and nonpublic, took over 4.7 million AP Exams.

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Media Contact:

Craig Runciman, Principal, Lockerby Composite School,
Rainbow District School Board, 705-522-1750