What is the College Board AP Audit Process?

I'm trying to understand the College Board's AP Audit process. I'm interested in taking an AP course, and I want to know how teachers and schools get their courses approved. What steps are involved in this process?

The College Board's AP Audit process is a quality assurance program designed to ensure that schools offering AP courses maintain the rigorous academic standards that are expected in college-level courses. The process involves several steps that a school or teacher must go through to get their AP courses officially approved and recognized by the College Board.

The first step taken by a school or teacher is to develop a syllabus for the AP course they wish to offer. This syllabus must reflect the AP subject-specific course framework as set out by the College Board and should include key components such as course objectives, major concepts and themes, instruction modes and methods, and assessment structures.

Afterward, the syllabus is submitted through the AP Audit website for review. The syllabus is evaluated by college and university faculty from around the globe who teach the equivalent college course. They determine if the submitted syllabus fulfills the curriculum requirements mandated by the College Board for that particular AP course.

If the syllabus is approved, the teacher will be authorized to use the "AP" designation for the course, signifying that it aligns with the standards set by the College Board. If the syllabus is not approved, feedback is provided which the teacher can leverage to refine their syllabus and resubmit it for review.

It's important to note that the AP Audit is not a one-time process, but ongoing. Every year, schools must reaffirm their commitment to meeting the AP course requirements, and periodically, they may be asked to resubmit their syllabi for review.

The goal of this process is to ensure that all students taking AP courses have access to the same high-quality education and are well-prepared for the AP exam. So, if you are choosing an AP course to take, the AP Audit process helps ensure that you are enrolling in a course that will be esteemed by colleges and universities.