Close 
Sign up today for a free WebPass membership
The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA), the nation's largest and oldest Italian American organization, has joined a coalition of organizations working to preserve the Advanced Placement (AP) Program in Italian and has launched a nationwide fund-raising campaign to help fund this important language program.
"OSIA considers preserving and expanding Italian studies an integral part of its raison d'etre," says OSIA National President Joseph Di Trapani.
Despite its growing popularity in U.S. schools, the AP Program in Italian that OSIA helped establish in 2005 is in danger of being eliminated for lack of funds, according to the College Board which administers it. About $3 million are needed to save the program.
"Losing the Italian AP program would be disastrous," says Di Trapani, "because college-bound students prefer courses that offer AP credit. Discontinuing the Italian AP will discourage thousands of students from studying Italian."
Italy's Ambassador to the United States Giulio Terzi Di Sant' Agata was instrumental in obtaining a commitment from his government for $1.5 million over a three-year period to underwrite the AP program, providing this country's national Italian American community raises matching funds. He also helped form the above-mentioned coalition.
In December 2009, OSIA officers unanimously voted to support funding for the AP program and have pledged a minimum of $75,000 over three years. The other coalition members, including the NIAF, UNICO, the Columbus Citizens Foundation, and the American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit, have also pledged funding. More organizations are expected to join the coalition with varying amounts of pledged support.
Help us give students the option to learn Italian & Preserve Italian Studies in U.S. Schools. Make a donation today to help save the AP Italian Program!
Pass this page along to your family, friends, colleagues, associates and anyone you know who would like to be part of this important effort.
Share this page on your social networking sites.
AP stands for Advanced Placement. It is an extensive program that offers high school students the chance to complete college-level courses in 22 subjects, including foreign languages such as French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Italian.
AP courses help prepare students for college level work. Students also gain college credit, which allows them to take more advanced courses when they get to college. Most important of all, students who have successfully completed AP courses receive special consideration by college admission boards that increases their chances of being accepted and receiving scholarships.
The AP Italian Language and Culture Program differs from traditional AP foreign language courses and exams because it is designed to provide instruction and assessment in cultural understanding as well as in language proficiency. Another feature of AP Italian Language and Culture is the launch of AP Italian workshops for teachers. These workshops provide consistent, high-quality professional development for teachers of Italian worldwide and are designed to help teachers employ strategies that will enable students to develop the proficiency for earning college credit or advanced placement.
Italian Americans are the nation's fifth largest ethnic group, according to the U.S. Census Bureau - and Italian is the fourth most commonly studied language in the United States!
College language enrollment in Italian has soared from 49,300 students in 1998 to 78,400 in 2006, according to the Modern Language Association. That constitutes a 60% increase in less than a decade!
A recent survey of 70,000 students by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages revealed that if they had the choice, more than half would study Italian in college over any other foreign language.