High School Liaison Responsibilities and Best Practices

High School Liaison Definition

High School Liaisons are not required to be licensed teachers, though they should be a school employee who is in the building and in contact with the students on a regular basis. The primary role of the AP4ME High School Liaison is to help support the student in their online learning environment, not to serve as an additional content-area teacher. High School Liaisons are a student’s support system to bridge the gap between AP4ME classes and the local school.

Each school that registers students must supply an on-site High School Liaison who provides feedback to the teacher, keeps students on task, and ensures the integrity of students’ work. High School Liaisons help students establish goals and understand teacher expectations for their online course(s), monitor student progress, and keep in touch with teachers and support staff.

Only one school High School Liaison per school is required. Please note, any time the University of Maine System (UMS) AP4ME coordinator communicates with a student regarding his/her AP4ME enrollment, the AP4ME High School Liaison will be included in the exchange.

High School Liaison and/or School Responsibilities

• Only one High School Liaison per school is required, regardless of the number of students or number of AP4ME courses in which those students are enrolled.
• High School Liaisons should be sure each student has access to the appropriate technology* and consistent/stable internet connection to succeed in an online-asynchronous course before approving the students application.*Depending on the course, students may need specific application access, the ability to record voice and/or video, etc. School-issued tablets/chromebooks are not always reliable devices for accessing course resources linked from the Brightspace online-learning platform.
• High School Liaisons are responsible for arrangements required by CollegeBoard for students intending to take the Advanced Placement (AP) Exam. CollegeBoard does not permit AP4ME staff to arrange and/or order AP Exams for participating students. If the AP4ME High School Liaison is not a school counselor, the High School Liaison should work with the school counseling department on these arrangements.
• High School Liaisons serve as the liaison between the student, high school staff, AP4ME teacher(s), and AP4ME coordinator regarding student performance and progress.
• Assist students with accessing and understanding the AP4ME Student Guidelines.
  Follow AP4ME guidelines/best practices as stated.

Best Practices

• High School Liaisons should meet with students at the start of the year to help them activate UMS accounts, access Brightspace, and the AP4ME course information in Brightspace.
• High School Liaisons should work with school district technical staff and AP4ME support staff to ensure technology access is in order before the start of a class.
• AP4ME High School Liaisons should work directly with students on time management skills to be sure students are dedicating adequate time for their AP4ME course responsibilities.
• The primary role of the AP4ME High School Liaison is to help support the student in their online learning environment. AP4ME High School Liaisons should help students facilitate an email or phone conversation with their teacher to address their concerns/questions.

Please note: it is up to the sponsoring high school to determine how AP4ME courses count toward Proficiency-Based diplomas and to discern which standards the student has demonstrated proficiency. The syllabus provided by each AP4ME teacher and the more detailed resources on the AP Course Audit at: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-course-audit should help align AP4ME courses with content standards. It is the responsibility of the sponsoring high school to accept and apply credit to a student’s high school transcript.

Student Eligibility

Any student in Maine is eligible to enroll in AP4ME courses free of charge. Homeschool students sponsored by a public school are also eligible to enroll. AP4ME courses are not college-credit courses. For students to receive CollegeBoard “credit” for their course, students must take the AP Exam and earn a minimum score on the exam that is set by the university or college they plan to attend. AP4ME does not arrange or provide financial support for the fees associated with AP exam(s).

Students must have a reliable internet connection and appropriate technology in order to be successful in online learning. Schools do not have a maximum number of students they can register in AP4ME courses, however schools are limited to five students per school-per course. Students may take up to two AP4ME courses per year. Students may not take both Calculus AB and Calculus BC in the same year.

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The AP Exam

Sponsoring schools are expected to register their AP4ME students to participate in the Advanced Placement (AP) Exam. Students may not retake an exam within the same year. Students may, however, repeat an exam in a subsequent year. In this case, both scores will be reported unless the student requests that one be withheld or canceled. All AP4ME students deserve a fair and uniform testing experience. All policies and procedures in regard to test security and administration are designed to protect the integrity of AP Exams and AP Exam scores, give all students equivalent opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge on exam day, and prevent any students from gaining an unfair advantage.

AP4ME does not pay for AP Exam fees.

If the College Board determines a student’s testing experience did not meet their standards for administering exams – even if this is not the student’s fault – they reserve the right to cancel that student’s AP Exam score. This is to protect the integrity of the AP Exam for all AP students, and to ensure the College Board can stand behind all scores submitted to colleges and universities for credit or advanced placement. When the College Board considers it appropriate, but not under all circumstances, students will be given the opportunity to retest.

Details about the College Board policies on test security and administration as well as plagiarism and falsification or fabrication of information can be found on the College Board website (External Site). It is strongly encouraged that each student enrolled in an AP4ME course read through this bulletin carefully before starting their AP4ME course.

The AP Music Theory and AP French or Spanish Language and Culture Exams requires students to record portions of the exam. There are several ways for recordings to be made and provided to the College Board. Please refer to the Recording Audio resource through the College Board (External Site).

For recordings, the College Board suggests having everything set up by April 1 in order to give students and proctors enough time to practice with the system before the AP Exam. For more questions regarding the AP Exam please refer to the Exam Taking Guidelines resource through the College Board (External Site).

If the sponsoring high school is not a testing site, students and AP4ME High School Liaisons should contact AP Services. For students: 888-225-5427 or email apstudents@info.collegeboard.org. For K-12 educators: 877-274-6474.

AP4ME Online Provider Code for the AP Exam

AP4ME’s unique provider code is 120. On the AP Exam, students will need to indicate their AP4ME course(s) were online and fill in the online provider code for AP4ME in Item G of their answer sheet. This code is used in addition to the high school code and allows the College Board to share exam results with AP4ME.

Preparing Students for the AP Exam

All students must read the current Bulletin for AP Students and Parents to become familiar with exam procedures, the importance of identifying their exam materials, exam security, etc.

Students must know when and where to appear for the exams and what they should and should not bring to the exam. If you will be testing home-schooled students or students from other schools, remind them to bring a valid photo ID and their Student Pack.

Let students know they will receive only one Student Pack and that they must use the AP number labels included in it for all their AP Exams. They may not share labels with anyone else.

Remind students to keep their AP number so they can get their scores in July.

Remind students of the importance of supplying consistent identification information on their registration answer sheet.

Ask AP Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, and Statistics teachers to remind students of the calculator policies for these exams.

AP Scores

The AP Exam score is a weighted combination of a student’s scores on the multiple-choice section and the free-response section. AP Exam scores are reported on a 5-point scale that indicates how qualified the student is to receive college credit and placement for their performance. For more information about AP Scores please visit the “About AP Scores” webpage (External Site).

College Credit

With qualifying AP Exam scores, students can earn credit, advanced placement, or both at many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Individual colleges and universities, not the College Board or the AP4ME Program, grant course credit and/or advanced placement. Students should obtain a college’s AP policy in writing. This information is typically found through the institution directly or by using the AP Credit Policy Info search.