COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 102

May 14, 2004

INFORMATIONAL

TO:	Division Superintendents
FROM:	Jo Lynne DeMary Superintendent of Public Instruction
SUBJECT:	Governors Virtual Advanced Placement School

The Department of Education is pleased to announce Virginias Virtual Advanced Placement School that is being made available in support of Governor Warners Education for a Lifetime initiative, and in particular the Senior Year Plus component. Televised and online Advanced Placement (AP) courses will be available to all qualified Virginia students through the school. AP course offerings will include: English, government, calculus, statistics, U.S. history, chemistry, biology, Spanish, human geography, economics, psychology, and physics.

The Virtual Advanced Placement School was developed to ensure that a wide variety of college-level courses are available to every Virginia public school student, regardless of location. High school students are encouraged to get a head start on college by earning college credit towards a postsecondary degree during high school. These credits may be earned by enrolling in AP courses offered through the Virtual AP School or courses taught in their school and earning qualifying scores on the associated AP examinations.

School divisions enrolling students participating in the Governors Early College Scholars Agreement program will have tuition and AP examination fees reimbursed by the department for any Virtual Advanced Placement School course taken. The cost of participating in these courses will be paid by the department only if students take the associated examinations. As has been the case in previous years, televised Virtual Advanced Placement School courses are tuition-free for all Virginia public school students. We encourage all students who take AP courses to take the associated examinations so they may earn college credit.

Course information, prerequisites, and enrollment forms are available on the Internet at http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Technology/VAPS.html. As has been the case in previous years, students should enroll through their schools.

If you need additional information on the Virtual Advanced Placement School, please contact Greg Weisiger (mailto:gweisige@pen.k12.va.us), associate director, teleproduction services at (804) 692-0335. If you have questions about the Governors Early College Scholars program, please contact Maureen Hijar (mailto:mhijar@mail.vak12ed.edu), director of secondary instruction, at (804) 225-2880.