Gifted vs. AP?

Question

What exactly is the difference between being placed in the "gifted program" and taking "AP courses?" I do know that qualifying for the gifted program (at least in the school board I went to), required standardized testing. They'd also give you an individual education plan (IEP), and your core courses would be exclusive, separate from the mainstream.

So, how does taking "AP courses" differ? Do you need to take standardized tests to qualify? Is one supposed to be "harder" than the other? My high school never offered them, but I knew others that did. Are these two categories even mutually exclusive? Are these patterns consistent throughout Canada and the states?

Answer 1

"Gifted programs" can vary by state, district or even school. In general these programs try to identify children with outstanding intellectual potential who may or may not be performing in accordance with their abilities. Placement is usually based on teacher identification followed by high performance on a standardized test, usually one which measures "IQ". The "gifted program"  itself may consist of as little as a monthly after school enrichment program or as much as placement in classes exclusively for "gifted" students. Either of these can be specified by an IEP.

Similarly, some schools have an "honors" track. These are classes which have more difficult content than the regular track and generally move at a faster pace. The difference between these and "gifted" classes is generally a matter of how students are selected. "Gifted" students are chosen for their elavated abstract intellectual capacity ("potential") while "honors" classes are usually filled with students who have demonstrated superior performance in that subject (i.e. good grades). Their is no standard assessment for material learned in honors classes so college credit cannot be assigned.

AP ("advanced placement") courses are courses taken by high school students that teach material at a college level and train students for AP tests. Generally students qualify if they have taken the prerequisites and are recommended by their teachers (often one year of high school physics is required before AP physics, Pre-calculus is required before AP calculus) Most students taking the courses will take an AP test (a standardized test similiar to the SAT-2 subject tests). If scores are sufficiently high on these assessments colleges may give you credit for the work. However each college treats AP scores differently. A state school may treat an AP as being exactly equivalent to their introductory course in that area (e.g. if you score 4 or 5 out of 5 on the AP physics exam you may skip Physics 101 and get credit for taking it), while a more competitive school may just allow you to advance to a more accelerated track (e.g. you can take the 2 course accelerated rather than 3 course standard freshman physics series with an AP score of 4 or 5 but do not get any credits for the score). You do not have to take an AP class to take the AP test, if you feel prepared for the test after taking a community college, honors or gifted course or doing independent study you can still take the test and get full credit. AP classes simply teach the material you need to pass the test.

Because the students who qualify for gifted, honors and AP programs are generally the same there is generally overlap. What exactly they offer depends on funding and the particular population they are trying to serve.

Answer 2

Gifted normally required testing to get into the Gifted program. While AP courses are classes that the students are put into due to their grades.

Answer 3

ive never heard of "gifted programs" but APs are pretty standard courses in the US. An AP course is only a college course one may take in highschool. For example, i am taking Calculus BC AP, which means that if i do well on the AP exam (its on a scale of 1-5, only whole numbers, so 1,2,3,4,5, but not 4.3,2.7, etc.) i will not have to take that course in college (since i have proven i have sufficient knowledge in the subject, and thus don't have to do it again). As for placement into an AP course, you just have to be recommended by either the teacher of that course or by the head of the department.

Answer 4

AP means that at the end of the course, a student can take the AP test and recieve college credit toward certain courses at institutions of higher learning that accept AP scores (most colleges and universities do). The AP curriculum is thus geared toward getting the student to pass the AP exam. There is no IEP with AP courses and anyone who qualifies for the classes can take them (usually the counselors have to sign off on it, which is based on a teacher's recommendation). There are no standardized tests (that I know of) required to get into an AP class; usually schools base their decisions on a student's previous courses and their grades in those courses (e.g., if they passed trigonometry with an A or B, they should be eligible for AP calculus). So yes, they are mutually exclusive, although gifted students can take AP classes, and AP students can be in gifted programs. I think this is consistent throughout the US (don't know about Canada) because the AP tests are consistent throughout this country.