Patriot, Woodbridge High Schools to Offer AP Capstone Program

Patriot and Woodbridge High School students will soon have access to the College Board’s AP Capstone program. According to PWCS, this course offers students a challenging, rigorous curriculum that was designed to build college-level skills in research, communication an collaboration. The course complements Advanced placement courses and exams. Osbourn Park High School in Manassas currently offers the AP Capstone Seminar as part of the biotechnology specialty program; the AP Capstone Research course, the second course in the sequence, will be available to students next year. The seminar is a prerequisite to the research course. "In AP Research, students cultivate the skills and discipline necessary to conduct independent research and to produce and defend a scholarly academic thesis," they said. "Students design, plan, and conduct a yearlong mentored, research-based investigation to address a research question." Students complete their study by crafting a 5,000 word academic thesis, which they must present and defend. The school division says the AP Capstone sequence will effectively prepare students for the academic and professional challenges they will face after they graduate. “This program helps to prepare students to think critically about global issues and to develop academic approaches that will benefit them in future careers in the 21st Century,” said Patriot High School Principal Dr. Michael Bishop. “This helps us to carry out our mission to be a leadership school.”