A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to broaden successful participation by students in advanced placement to help eliminate ACHIEVEMENT and access gaps and to create performance incentives for schools and teachers for student excellence in advanced placement, as recommended by the house select committee on education reform.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑12(9)c1. reads as rewritten:
 "c1.	To issue an annual "report card" for the State and for each local school administrative unit, assessing each unit's efforts to improve student performance based on the growth in performance of the students in each school and taking into account progress over the previous years' level of performance and the State's performance in comparison with other states. This assessment shall take into account factors that have been shown to affect student performance and that the State Board considers relevant to assess the State's efforts to improve student performance. The annual "report card" shall include measures of Advanced Placement course participation and Advanced Placement examination participation and performance."
SECTION 2.  Article 8 of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 115C‑83.1.  Advanced Placement courses.
(a)	It is the intent of the State to enhance accessibility and encourage students to enroll in and successfully complete more rigorous coursework, such as Advanced Placement (AP) courses, to enable success in postsecondary education for all students. To attain this goal, to the extent funds are made available for this purpose, the following shall be provided:
(1)	Students enrolled in public schools shall be exempt from paying any fees for administration of College Board AP examinations for AP courses in which the student is enrolled, regardless of the score the student achieves on an examination.
(2)	Bonuses shall be awarded to teachers of AP courses for students who earn scores of three or higher on AP examinations.
(b)	Eligible secondary students shall be encouraged to enroll in AP courses to earn postsecondary credit.
(c)	The results of student diagnostic tests administered pursuant to G.S. 115C‑174.18 and G.S. 115C‑174.22, such as the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) and ACT, shall be used to identify students who are prepared or who need additional work to be prepared to enroll and be successful in AP courses.
(d)	Local boards of education shall provide information to students and parents on available opportunities and the enrollment process for students to take AP courses. The information shall explain the value of AP courses in preparing students for postsecondary level coursework, enabling students to gain access to postsecondary opportunities, and qualifying for scholarships and other financial aid opportunities.
(e)	Local boards of education shall ensure that all high school students have access to AP courses in language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Such access may be provided through enrollment in courses offered through or approved by the North Carolina Virtual Public School.
(f)	The State Board of Education shall see that professional development is made  available to enable teachers of AP courses to have the necessary content knowledge and instructional skills to prepare students for success on an AP examination and mastery of postsecondary course content.
(g)	The State Board of Education shall seek partners, such as the College Board, to form the North Carolina Advanced Placement Partnership to assist in improving college readiness of secondary students and to assist secondary schools to ensure that all students have access to high‑quality, rigorous academics, with a focus on access to advanced courses. The Partnership shall do the following:
(1)	Provide professional development to enable teachers of AP courses to have the necessary content knowledge, instructional skills, and materials to prepare students for success on AP courses and examinations and other advanced course examinations and mastery of postsecondary course content.
(2)	Provide administrators, including principals and counselors, with professional development that will enable them to create strong and effective AP programs in their schools.
(3)	Provide teachers of students in grades seven through twelve with pre‑AP professional development and materials that prepare students for success in AP courses.
(4)	Provide consulting expertise and technical assistance to support implementation.
(5)	Prioritize assistance to schools designated as low‑performing by the State Board of Education."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 115C‑174.18 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑174.18.  Opportunity to take Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Every student in the eighth through tenth grades who has completed Algebra I or who is in the last month of Algebra I shall be given an opportunity to take a version of the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) one time at State expense."
SECTION 4.(a)  The State Board of Education shall use funds appropriated in this act to do the following:
(1)	Provide incentive funding to local school administrative units to be distributed to teachers of Advanced Placement courses as follows:
a.	A bonus in the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00) for each student taught by the AP teacher in each AP course who receives a score of three or higher on the College Board Advanced Placement Examination.
b.	An additional bonus of five hundred dollars ($500.00) to each AP teacher who teaches in a school identified as low‑performing under G.S. 115C‑105.37 by the State Board of Education and who has at least one student scoring three or higher on the College Board Advanced Placement Examination, regardless of the number of classes taught or the number of students scoring a three or higher on the College Board Advanced Placement Examination.
	No teacher shall be awarded a bonus pursuant to this subdivision that exceeds two thousand dollars ($2,000) in any given school year. The bonus awarded to a teacher pursuant to this subdivision shall be in addition to any regular wage or other bonus the teacher receives or is scheduled to receive.
(2)	Provide funds to local school administrative units to pay testing fees for AP courses for all students.
(3)	Provide funds to local school administrative units for professional development for teachers of AP courses.
SECTION 4.(b)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of twelve million two hundred six thousand three hundred thirty‑nine dollars ($12,206,339) for the 2012‑2013 fiscal year. Of the amount appropriated, seven million seven hundred twenty‑five thousand two hundred fifty‑two dollars ($7,725,252) shall be used to fund fees for testing in Advanced Placement (AP) courses, two million nine hundred eighty‑one thousand eighty‑seven dollars ($2,981,087) shall be used for teacher bonuses, and one million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) shall be used for professional development for teachers in AP courses. Funding appropriated for professional development shall be used by the State Board of Education to contract with an independent evaluator to assess the implementation and success of the AP program in North Carolina.
SECTION 5.  The State Board of Education shall report annually beginning July 1, 2013, to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on the Advanced Placement (AP) program in North Carolina.  The report shall include, at a minimum, the following information:
(1)	Number of students enrolled in AP courses and participating in AP examinations, including demographic information by gender, race, and free and reduced lunch status.
(2)	Student performance on AP examinations, including information by course, local school administrative unit, and school.
(3)	Number of students participating in tenth grade PSAT/NMSQT testing.
(4)	Number of teachers attending summer institutes offered by the North Carolina Advanced Placement Partnership.
(5) 	Number and distribution of teachers awarded bonuses for student AP examination performance.
(6)	Distribution of funding appropriated for AP testing fees, bonuses, and professional development by local school administrative unit and school.
(7) 	Status and efforts of North Carolina Advanced Placement Partnership.
(8)	Other trends in AP courses and examinations.
SECTION 6.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2012, and applies beginning with the 2012‑2013 school year.