College Board to Add Italian Language to Advanced Placement (AP) Program
Press Contact: Diane E. Crespy, (202) 547-2900 dcrespy@osia.org
NEWS-For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON, June 23, 2003 - Italian is now part
of the prestigious Advanced Placement (AP) Program for
gifted high school students and will be offered beginning
in the Fall of 2005.
The College Board unanimously approved the Italian Language Course for its
Advanced Placement (AP) Program portfolio on June 20. The decision came
after several years of negotiations led by the Order Sons of Italy in
America (OSIA), the American Association of Teachers of Italian, the
National Italian American Foundation, UNICO National and the Italian
government. Prime movers were Matilda Cuomo and her daughter, Margaret
Cuomo-Maier, M.D.
The AP Italian course and examination will give outstanding
students the opportunity to earn college credit for Italian
while still in high school. OSIA National President Robert
Messa notes the news is "a tremendous step forward" for
OSIA and the Italian American community in promoting the
study of Italian in the United States. "It places
Italian on the same level as such other commonly taught
foreign languages as French, German and Spanish,"
says Messa.
The foreign languages currently offered by the AP program are French,
German, Latin and Spanish. A 2002 report from OSIA, using data from the
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages revealed that Italian
language enrollment in U.S. high schools rose 46 percent between 1994-2000
compared to Spanish enrollment, (26 percent rise). French and German
dropped 2.75 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
After an official announcement, expected shortly from the College Board, a
national task force will be formed to outline the curriculum, draft the AP
Italian examination and identify the professional development needs for the
successful implementation of AP Italian in schools throughout the country.
The College Board anticipates that the first full year of instruction in the
new AP Italian Language course will commence in the fall of 2005.
The Order Sons of Italy in America is the largest and longest established
national organization for men and women of Italian heritage in the United
States. Founded in 1905, today it has 600,000 members and supporters and a
network of more than 700 chapters coast to coast.
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