Arrivederci to AP Italian? Not So Fast, Educators Say

Italian-American groups, outraged the Advanced Placement course in Italian language and culture could soon be shelved, have mobilized to save it. The College Board, which administers the AP program, plans to cut the $84 test and three others because of meager enrollment and funding. “We cannot have the Italian program eliminated,” one advocate tells the Washington Post. It’s “too important to us.”

Educators declared victory in 2006 after scoring an AP test for Italian, which can burnish a student’s transcript. Losing it, they fear, will doom the field. “If you take away the Italian AP now, you are breaking the program,” said one teacher. Administrators are also set to close the book on AP French literature, Latin literature, and computer science. (More college board stories.)