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Students Take Government Class To The Next Level

Stevenson High School students who lobbied for the "AP Equity" bill pose with the chief sponsor State Rep. Carol Sente (far left) and Gov. Bruce Rauner. Corey Weil is next to Rauner.
Andrew Conneen
Stevenson High School students who lobbied for the "AP Equity" bill pose with the chief sponsor State Rep. Carol Sente (far left) and Gov. Bruce Rauner. Corey Weil is next to Rauner.

 

Stevenson High School students who lobbied for the "AP Equity" bill pose with the chief sponsor State Rep. Carol Sente (far left) and Gov. Bruce Rauner. Corey Weil is next to Rauner.
Credit Andrew Conneen
Stevenson High School students who lobbied for the "AP Equity" bill pose with the chief sponsor State Rep. Carol Sente (far left) and Gov. Bruce Rauner. Corey Weil is next to Rauner.

There's good news for high school students taking advanced placement courses: Thanks to a new law, they'll get more credit for passing AP tests than before.

 Meet the student who helped create this legislation, and his AP Government teacher

Advanced placement courses end with a College Board test, and a score of 3 is a passing grade. Universities in nearby states automatically grant credit for those scores, but many Illinois colleges require higher AP test scores of 4 or 5. Representative MarkBatinick, a Plainfield Republican, says that contributes to Illinois' brain drain."We have a net out-migration of 16,500higher-edstudents per year. So we're losing the equivalent of two Eastern Illinois Universities annually," Batinick says. "When a student can go off to college with 15, even 20 or more credits, it's very attractive, as opposed to having to spend more time at an Illinois state school, re-taking courses that they've already proven they're proficient in." 

A new law co-sponsored byBatinickrequires Illinois public colleges and universities to award credit for AP scores of 3 or above. It takes effect next year.  

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