AP Capstone
We are proud to be recognized by AP Central as a school whose AP programs are delivering results for students while broadening access.
How AP Capstone Works
Saint Joseph Catholic High School has proudly offered the AP Capstone program since 2018.
The College Board’s AP Capstone is an innovative college-level program based on two courses — AP Seminar and AP Research — that complement and enhance discipline-specific AP courses. The program gives students a chance to practice core academic skills they need to complete college. The ability to think independently, write effectively, research, collaborate, and learn across disciplines is essential for success in college, career, and beyond.
Students who earn scores of 3 or higher in AP Seminar and AP Research and on four additional AP Exams of their choosing receive the AP Capstone Diploma™. This signifies their outstanding academic achievement and attainment of college-level academic and research skills. Students who earn scores of 3 or higher in both AP Seminar and AP Research but not on four additional AP Exams receive the AP Seminar and Research Certificate™.
AP Capstone was developed in response to feedback from higher education and is easily implemented, affordable and flexible. It has the potential to differentiate and transform high schools and their students by elevating the learning environment through a challenging, college-level program with high standards of assessment.
Benefits of AP Capstone
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✔ Fosters the research, argumentation, and communication skills at the core of college readiness and lifelong learning.
✔ Provides a setting to build on the knowledge and rigorous coursework of AP in an interdisciplinary format.
✔ Lets students show colleges that they’ve challenged themselves academically and also illustrates their passion and interest in specific research topics.
✔ Makes students self-confident, independent thinkers prepared for higher education.
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✔ Allows high schools to differentiate themselves by implementing a challenging program.
✔ Lets teachers improve their teaching skills in a student-centered classroom environment.
✔ Offers a flexible curricular content model with room for creativity and student input.
✔ Offers an implementation model schools can customize for scheduling demands, curricular structures, or state and local requirements.
✔ Builds professional excellence in a week-long, collaborative professional development institute.
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✔ Helps high school students gain research, collaboration, and communication skills essential for college and for today’s complex and interconnected world.
✔ Identifies students with the research, writing, and collaboration skills necessary to complete college.
✔ Identifies students able to articulate their passion and interests in specific research topics.
✔ Provides consistent, externally validated measures of student ability.
✔ Demonstrates student research and writing ability through a 4,000–5,000-word scholarly research paper.