Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools is working toward introducing Advanced Placement courses in Grade 10 English and Mathematics at several of our high schools beginning in the 2008/2009 school year. Currently, we plan to offer it at Notre Dame Collegiate in High River and St. Anthony’s School in Drumheller. In the next three years, we also hope to see the program accessed by students at Our Lady of the Snows in Canmore and Holy Cross in Strathmore. We plan to do this using videoconferencing. By using videoconferencing, we can connect some of our most capable learners who are located in high schools all around our Division. In addition, our online school, St. Paul’s Academy (under the umbrella of the Centre For Learning @ Home), will be offering the Advanced Placement program in grade 12 English next year. Students from any of our traditional schools will have access to this course as well. AP gives students an opportunity to take college-level courses and exams while still in high school. There are 33 courses in 19 subject areas, offered by 13,000 secondary schools around the world. In 2000, 1.2 million exams were taken by 750,000 students. Students enjoy the challenge of taking AP courses with enthusiastic classmates and teachers; high school faculty find that AP courses enhance their students' confidence and academic interest as well as their school's reputation; and university faculty report that AP students are far better prepared for serious academic work. AP provides highly motivated students the opportunity to try university-level work in high school, and to gain valuable skills and study habits for university. For students receiving a qualifying grade on the AP Exam, there are thousands of colleges and universities worldwide that will give credit or advanced placement for their efforts including the three major universities in Alberta. Most of the major universities across Canada also give credit or advanced placement for AP. The hard work really does pay off in the form of AP awards, time and money saved in college, the chance to challenge students by studying a subject in depth, and more. For more information on the Advanced Placement Program, visit AP Central. Detailed i nformation on AP in Canada can be accessed at AP Canada.