A strong believer in the importance of college preparation, the state of Iowa has long made Advanced Placement* courses a priority. However, limiting factors mean many rural students have little or no access to AP* courses. Sometimes there aren't enough students to justify the cost of offering an AP course in a small high school or district. In other cases teachers qualified to teach rigorous, college-level AP courses aren't locally available.

Online Courses Level the Playing Field

Determined to provide access to AP courses for all students in the state, the University of Iowa's Belin-Blank Center used a technology grant to establish the Iowa Online Advanced Placement Academy (IOAPA) in 2001. IOAPA chose Apex Learning, the leading provider of online AP curriculum, to deliver online AP courses and provide instruction.

"Quality is everything when evaluating digital curriculum. We looked for a vendor that offered robust courses to provide academic challenge."

   — Dr. Clar M. Baldus
        Project Administrator for the Iowa Online AP Academy

Through IOAPA, small, rural schools that would otherwise not be able to offer AP classes are able to take advantage of distance learning to provide their students with access to AP courses. Students enrolled in Apex Learning online AP courses spend one class period during the day at their high school in a learning lab, where they access their coursework via the Internet.

Online Solutions Support AP Success

Starting in 2002, IOAPA made AP Exam Review**, a comprehensive online study resource from Apex Learning, available to all students in the state to help them prepare for the AP exams. To date more than 7,500 Iowa students have taken advantage of AP Exam Review as a study tool.

IOAPA has also provided access to Apex Learning digital curriculum for AP for use by classroom AP teachers. The digital curriculum has proven to be a particularly valuable resource for teachers new to the rigors of AP coursework.

*Advanced Placement and AP are registered trademarks of the College Board.

**AP is a registered trademark of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, AP Exam Review.