COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 155

August 12, 2005

INFORMATIONAL

TO:	Division Superintendents
FROM:	Jo Lynne DeMary Superintendent of Public Instruction
SUBJECT:	Virginia Virtual Advanced Placement School Course Catalog and Web Link

The Department of Education encourages school divisions to include courses offered by the Virtual Advanced Placement School (VAPS) in their secondary program of studies. The course listings are posted in the Course Catalog section of the VAPS website: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/VAPScourses.html.

The course listings for the 2006-2007 academic year will be available by December 15, 2005. All current Advanced Placement classes will be available in 2006-2007. Additional course offerings are being reviewed and will be posted to the website.

The Department of Education also requests that school divisions include a link to the Virginia Advanced Placement School on their division website. This link may be downloaded from http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/VAPS.html.

School divisions are reminded that the Virginia Virtual Advanced Placement School will continue to accept registrations for the 2005-2006 academic year through September 9. Offerings include 15 Advanced Placement courses on both a full-year and 4X4 semester block schedule and six foreign language courses on a full-year schedule.

Students enrolling in VAPS who are participants in the Early College Scholars program will have tuition and AP examination fees for any VAPS course paid by the Department of Education. Televised Advanced Placement and foreign language courses are tuition-free for all Virginia public school students. Information about the Early College Scholars program is available at: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/senioryearplus/earlycollegescholars.shtml.

Courses in the Virtual Advanced Placement School can be taken asynchronously and are designed to offer maximum flexibility for students with scheduling conflicts. These classes also support school divisions with enrollments too small for a full-time instructor. Televised courses are archived and video streamed over the Internet as well as broadcast live via satellite. Online classes and televised classes utilize course management software to minimize the paperwork responsibilities of course facilitators.

All instructors are fully licensed with extensive e-learning classroom experience.

Students may be enrolled for the spring semester 4X4 block classes through the first week of the spring semester. Textbooks and other materials are the responsibility of the school division. Additional course information, prerequisites, and enrollment forms are available at the VAPS website. Students should enroll through their schools.

If you need additional information on the Virtual Advanced Placement School, please contact Cathy Cheely (mailto:cathy.cheely@doe.virginia.gov), e-learning coordinator at (804) 225-2972.

JLD/gw/cc