Advanced Academics Newsletter

Advanced Academics includes courses, programs, assessments, services and supports that provide opportunities for students to demonstrate college and career readiness and earn postsecondary credits.

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College Preparation Courses and   Programs

2024 AP Texas School Honor Roll Recipients

The AP® School Honor Roll recognizes schools whose AP programs are delivering results for students and broadening access to rigorous, college-level coursework. Schools earn this recognition annually based on criteria that reflects a commitment to increasing college-going culture, providing opportunities for students to earn college credit, and maximizing college. As of October 2024, of the 1,241 qualifying schools in Texas, 36% earned a place on the 2024 AP School Honor Roll. In addition, 59% of schools on the Honor Roll earned the AP Access Award.

Texas Honor Roll Report and List of Texas schools

TEA Webpage for College Preparatory Course

Information about the College Preparatory Courses for CCMR Accountability is available on a new TEA webpage, College Preparatory Courses for CCMR Accountability.  Additional details will be posted on the College Prep Course webpage as they become available.

Advanced Placement Digital Exams

Starting in May 2025, standard paper testing will be discontinued for 28 AP Exams—these exams will move to the Bluebook digital testing application. You can CLICK HERE to learn more about digital AP Exams.

Digital Exam Resources for Educators:

• Overview-2025 Digital AP Testing recorded Webinar
• AP Coordinator Planning Guide for Digital AP Exams
• AP Coordinator Manual Part 2
• Technology Overview for AP Digital Exams
• IT Staff Conversation Guide
• Digital AP Exam FAQ
• Hybrid Digital AP Exam Sample Booklets
• Testing Accommodations for Digital AP Exams

AP Important Dates and Deadlines

• January 31, 2025 – Deadline to submit AP Course Audit materials. CLICK HERE for more details.
• March 14, 2025 – Deadline to submit final order for AP Exams.
• April 30, 2025 – Deadline to finalize student fee reduction status in AP Registration and Ordering
• April 30, 2025 – AP Digital Portfolio Deadline (AP Seminar, AP Research, and AP CSP Performance Tasks)
• May 9, 2025 – Deadline to submit AP Art and Design Portfolios.

College Preparation Assessments

The ACT Assessment is Evolving

Learn the details of how the ACT is evolving. Shorter test times, more time per question, and greater flexibility are some of the enhancements. The test is not computer-adaptive but remains linear for testing familiarity. Learn more and signup here for updates.

ACT’s 2025 Summit is Coming This July

For the first time, ACT is hosting an event bringing together K-12, higher education, and the workforce into one event. The ACT 2025 Summit will provide an opportunity to connect with peers from across the country, hear success stories from states, districts, workforce and other educational organizations.

ACT’s GPA’s Validity Research

ACT Research shows that while GPA’s validity of student preparedness for college was impacted by COVID, ACT’s validity remained steady. Read the research here.

2024 ACT Grad Class Data

Review ACT’s 2024 Grad Class data for Texas and compare state participation and performance using the ACT Grad Class dashboard.

ACT Standards Alignment Guide for Texas

ACT has created a standards alignment guide for Texas, linking the ACT and Texas Standards to Drive Student Success. Find it here.

ACT’s Encourage App

K-12 Counselors are helping students access the Encourage app, ACT’s free college and career planning tool. Career searches with salary information and minimum education requirements, college scholarship opportunities, financial aid, best-fit college information, and more are all available with the new Encourage app. Students can track their college and career journeys and educators can access tools to help support students.

Read more @ ACT's website.

SAT Student National Recognition Programs

National Recognition Program Awardees were notified by the College Board earlier this fall. More than 18,900 Texas students received recognition. These programs recognize the strong academic performance of rural area, African American, Indigenous, Latino, and first-generation high school students. District and school-level administrators with Detailed Reporting access to the K–12 reporting portal can access a full list of students who have received College Board National Recognition Program awards. This report is posted in the Custom Reports from College Board section of Downloads in the K–12 reporting portal.

SAT Suite of Assessments

Scores from the Fall testing window for PSAT 8/9, PSAT/NMSQT, and SAT School Day have been released. Educators can access the official downloadable score report PDF for printing and sharing with the student in the K–12 score reporting portal. Educators can also see additional interpretive insights about the student's results. See the K–12 Reporting Portal Help Center for details on how to access the K–12 reporting portal as well as the reporting features available. Resources schools can use to help students and parents interpret their score report and find information about next steps in the SAT Suite of Assessments In-School Educator Experience.

SAT Score Resources for Educators

• Use the SAT Suite Alignment to the TEKS and Texas CCRS to understand the strong alignment between the assessments and what students are learning in school.
• Access the new Knowledge and Skills Report to view aggregate student performance on the Reading and Writing and Math sections of the digital SAT.  Each test section is composed of questions in four content domains. Each student who completed this test administration has had their performance placed into one of the seven performance score bands for each of the eight content domains.
• To better understand the knowledge and skills related to each content domain and performance score band in this report, click the Skills Insight and Example Questions link. This will take you to the Skills Insight tool, where you can view Skills Insight statements that show what test takers' Reading, Writing, and Math section score ranges typically know and can do. You can also examine example questions that illustrate the types and difficulty levels of questions that these test takers can generally answer correctly.
• Use the SAT Suite Question Bank (SSQB) to create custom, targeted question sets and improve instruction. The question bank includes over 3,500 questions from the SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, and PSAT 8/9 assessments. You can find questions that align with skills taught in class and use them in multiple ways. Questions can be sorted by sub scores, cross- test scores, and content dimensions.

AP Potential Data is Now Available

AP Potential is a research-driven, free online tool designed to help schools expand access to their AP programs based on likely student outcomes. AP Potential helps schools identify students who are likely to score a three or higher on a given AP Exam based on their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 8/9, PSAT 10, or SAT.

New Rules for TSIA

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) adopted amendments to rules under Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 4, Subchapter C & D, governing the implementation of the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) and Dual Credit Partnerships Between Secondary Schools and Texas Public Colleges at the April 25, 2024, board meeting.

New Rules that became effective May 16, 2024

• TSIA scores are not required for Non-Degree-Seeking students to enroll in dual credit courses. Please refer to your local district policy and consult with your IHE partner for more information.
• A student degree plan is required to be on file when the student earns fifteen college credit hours.
• THECB Dual Credit FAQs, Published October 16, 2024
  • Disclaimer: Questions and answers on the FAQ page are for general guidance and do not have any formal legal bearing.
  • To find more information about the TSIA, visit this THECB website.

TSIA Student Portal

• For more information about the TSIA2 and access to practice resources, visit the TSIA2 Student Portal.
• Students may access their previous TSIA scores through the Student Portal using the email address used at the time the student took the TSIA.

College Preparation Services and  Supports

Texas Computer Science (CS) Teacher Certification and AP Computer Science Principles Professional Development

WeTeach_CS manages the University of Texas Certification Incentive Program (CIP) that provides a $1000 stipend for Texas teachers who pass the CS 8-12 Test and obtain TEA CS certification. resources have helped more than six hundred educators across the country achieve high school computer science certifications.

• Learn more about the certification process, stipends, incentive programs, curriculum, and application provided by WeTeach_CS, Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin.
• Explore >Certification and Professional Development to learn more this program.
• Read about Closing the Gap of Computer Science Educators.

2025 AP and IB Exam Preparation Resources

• AP Coordinator’s Manual, Part 1, 2024-25
• IB Assessments and Exams 2025

AP and IB Course Credit Policies to Inform Student Advisement for 2025-2026 Pre-enrollment

Identify which courses and/or colleges support a student’s degree plan

• AP Credit Policy Search
  • Search database by college.
  • Search database by course.
• Getting IB diploma credit at US colleges and universities
  • College website search for IB Credit Policy

Digital Examinations for the IB DP and CP

The IBO will deliver both paper and digital examinations in the DP and CP starting with a small number of subjects in 2026. This is the first stage of a multi-year project that encompasses several phases. During this transition, schools can continue administering paper examinations until fully prepared to go digital. Read about this transition to digital IB examinations

Advanced Academics Office Hours Registration Links

The purpose of Advanced Academics (AA) Office Hour meetings is to provide time and space for informal conversations between TEA Advanced Academics coordinators and K-12 stakeholders who want to stay up to date on important decisions and information related to the Advanced Academics courses, programs, assessments, student services and support. A follow-up email is sent to all registered members with the presentation deck and a response to questions asked during the meeting.

• February 6, 9am – AP Potential (Lana Sveda, College Board Senior Director, State and District Partnerships)
• March 6, 1pm – Texas IB (Lindsay Cooper, IBO Business Development Manager)
• April 3, 9am - TSIA Exemptions for Dual Credit
• May 8, 1pm – PEIMS Coding for Advanced Academic Programs
• June 5, 9am – HB3 Reimbursement Processes
• No meeting July 2025

Topics subject to change based on TEA announcements and/or district needs.

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