AP Benefits for Schools and Districts

Why Bring AP to Your School?

Advanced Placement® (AP) courses and exams can help students develop the confidence and skills necessary to succeed in high school, college, and career. Exposing a wide range of students to advanced coursework can also help raise achievement and college readiness for the entire school or district.

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The Impacts of Advanced Placement

The AP Advantage

Research shows takng just one AP course changes student outcomes and substantially improves both their first-year college GPA and on-time college graduation rates.

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More Than a Score

While two out of three AP students earn college credit, success in AP is measured by more than exam results. By broadening participation in advanced coursework, you can elevate student achievement schoolwide.

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Future Costs Savings

In 2025, U.S. students earned nearly 4.2 million qualifying AP Exam scores. That's a potential savings of over $5 billion in tuition and fees for students and families.

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Maximize the Benefits of AP

Find the approach that fits your school's goals and make it easier to bring more students into advanced coursework.

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You have an opportunity to focus on your priority:

Raise your school's college readiness indicator.
Increase your school's college acceptance rate.
Enhance CTE pathways with college credit.
Upgrade STEM offerings.
Ensure your school is getting the most out of electives.
Earn credit for the language skills your students possess or have learned.
Prepare more students for advanced coursework.

Find Your Approach

Prepare the Future Workforce with AP  Career Kickstart

Encourage students to explore in-demand professions and earn an employer-endorsed credential—all before entering college. AP Career Kickstart™ courses empower students to develop real-world skills and explore career interests early to help them make informed decisions about their future.

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In AP Business with Personal Finance, kids get to start their own businesses. They can be creative, work in teams, and make decisions—skills that are transferable into every single career. Dr. Kerri Largo, Business Education Teacher and Department Chair, Hoffman Estates High School, Illinois

For most of high school, I didn't know what major to choose in college or what career I wanted. AP classes provided me with a more in-depth look into career options and skills I’d want in the future. It would’ve been impossible for me to decide otherwise.

Patrick, AP Alum

Expand Access to AP

Find More AP-Ready Students with AP Potential

If your school offers the PSAT 8/9, PSAT 10, PSAT/NMSQT, or SAT, use the free, online AP Potential™ tool to help you more easily identify students with the potential to succeed in AP. Whether you’re considering adding additional sections to your existing courses or adding new courses to your master schedule, the AP Potential tool can help you build your AP program or better understand areas of opportunity to expand it.

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A No-Cost Option to Sample Pre-AP

College Board aims to ensure all students are ready with the knowledge and skills they’ll need to take their first AP course. To support this goal, we’re making all Pre-AP courses available for free to any school that enrolls:

12th-grade students in AP Precalculus
10th-grade students in AP African American Studies, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Seminar, or English 10: AP Seminar
High school students in AP Business with Personal Finance or AP Cybersecurity

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Support to Grow Your AP Program

Through the expanded AP Participant Grant, College Board will cover the tuition of an AP Summer Institute, in-person or virtual, for any educator teaching an AP course for the first time in the 2026-27 school year.

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Free AP Resources

Schools and districts who adopt Advanced Placement courses can access a variety of free resources that support learning and instruction to meet their school community's unique needs.

Instructional Resources

AP Classroom is an online platform that provides flexible instructional resources for each AP course to support student learning of all course content and skills.

Learn About AP Classroom

Practice Resources

The AP Program offers practice resources to help students stay on track with their AP courses and prepare for AP Exams.

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Outreach and Support Resources

These materials were designed to help you build awareness of AP, announce new AP courses, and welcome students and parents to AP.

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Student Recruitment Hub

Use these downloadable handouts, webpages, videos, and other resources to recruit students to your AP program.

Visit the Hub

Inspiration for Implementation

Access practitioner insights and research-backed resources, including webinars, infographics, and white papers that support thoughtful planning and effective implementation.

Visit the Inspiration Portal

Achieving AP School Honor Roll Status

The AP School Honor Roll recognizes schools that are delivering results for students while broadening access to advanced learning opportunities through their AP programs. Schools can earn this recognition based on criteria that reflect a commitment to increasing college-going culture, providing opportunities for students to earn college credit, and maximizing college readiness. Learn more about the qualifying criteria and how to be considered.