Earning College Credit Through PLTW & College Board / Advanced Placement Recognition
The PLTW experience develops motivated, well-rounded students by instilling confidence, stressing the importance of self-discovery, encouraging innovative problem solving and critical thinking, teaching team building, and rewarding creativity. The program is fun and students gain a critical opportunity to put their math skills to work in almost every class.
PLTW classes are nationally standardized project-based courses that prepare students for college-level work and culminate with a student assessment, which colleges and universities can use to determine if a student earns college credit. In order to be eligible for college credit, students must attend a certified PLTW school, earn a satisfactory grade in the respective PLTW course, and pass a college level final examination. Once eligible for credit, students would then apply for transcript credit (approximately $200) through a PLTW regional college or university. The University of New Haven, for example, is the local affiliated University for the PLTW Engineering program. This credit is official transcript credit through the college or university. It is important to understand that colleges and universities, both PLTW affiliated and non-affiliated, can accept the transcript credit in multiple ways. The following are ways in which post-secondary institutions are articulated with PLTW:
Course Substitution Credit -- PLTW course substitutes for a program course. Treated similar to AP or transfer credit.
Advanced Standing Credit -- PLTW course eliminates the need for an elective course; or gives them no course credit, but gives them credit to advance their class standing (i.e. early registration, parking preferences, early financial assistance increase due to reaching junior status quicker).
Partial Course Credit -- Grant partial credit for a course, thus reducing the tuition to the student, but not the time.
Bridge Courses -- Course designed specifically to fill any gaps between the PLTW courses and related program courses.
Retro-Credit Model-- Students who successfully complete a higher level course in a sequence are granted program credit for a prerequisite course.
Test-out or Challenge Exam -- Students are allowed to sit for a challenge exam, which upon successful completion will give them credit for the program course.
*To view the official list of affiliated universities please visit www.pltw.org.
College Board (Advanced Placement) and Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Recognition
The College Board and Project Lead The Way partnered to create the Advanced Placement Program (AP) + Project Lead The Way (PLTW) program in order to encourage student participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and provide greater access to opportunities for students. The two organizations recognize the importance of preparing more students, earlier, to pursue STEM degrees and careers. To earn the recognition, a student must satisfactorily complete three courses in the pathway — one AP course; one PLTW course; and a third course, either AP or PLTW — and earn a qualifying score of 3 or higher on the AP Exam(s) and a score of Proficient or higher on the PLTW End of Course (EoC) assessment(s).
Students may earn recognition for multiple pathways (for example, Biomedical and Engineering). Student recognitions will be awarded each summer after the successful completion of relevant AP Exams and PLTW EoC assessments. Students who complete the requirements of their chosen pathway earn the AP + PLTW student recognition, a qualification that demonstrates to colleges and employers that the student is ready for advanced course work and interested in careers in this discipline. Ask you counselor for more details. Click on the links below for more information.