Italian in danger of losing AP language and culture program: Washington Post

Poor Italian. An AP language and culture program for the language was set up just three years ago and is in danger of disappearing:

The episode illustrates the sway of the AP program, which measures high school students against the standards of college. The program has emerged alongside International Baccalaureate and Cambridge as the top tier for college-bound juniors and seniors. Good scores on end-of-course exams can yield credit and advanced standing in college.

Leaders of the College Board decided in late March to eliminate four of the program's 37 courses, including AP Italian, saying the four were under-enrolled and losing money. The last tests for French literature, Latin literature and computer science are scheduled for May. The AP Italian course might be saved if sufficient funds could be raised, said officials with the College Board, which is based in New York.

I see no reason to eliminate the language after a mere three years though. That's not even close enough time to determine whether it will be successful or not. The main problem with Italian seems to be the following:

Italian has never commanded more than a fraction of the foreign-language market, though interest in the language is rising. Italian consistently ranks with French as a foreign tongue that appeals to many students. In U.S. schools, Italian is seen to lack the practicality of Spanish, the scholarly pedigree of Latin and the established tradition of French.

Luckily the matter is purely financial, and we'll soon find out exactly how much will be needed to keep AP Italian going:

As they announced cuts in April, College Board officials made clear their concern with the Italian course was purely financial. In May, Castellaneta met with the College Board's president, Gaston Caperton. In June, the two parties announced that a task force had been formed to raise funds in hope to save the course.

Embassy officials say they have not yet been told how much money will be needed; they expect to find out later this month. The funds must be collected by October to save the test beyond 2009.

"They made very clear that they wished to sustain AP Italian," Mancini said. "But they made very clear that they would need money to do this."

Protest has risen in all four academic fields that stand to lose tests. Teachers say they were left out of the decision-making process. They say the exams are being eliminated too quickly for thousands of students across the country who had planned to take the exams in two to three years.

So let's wait a few weeks towards the end of July to see how much money they're talking about, and then we'll know whether the program will be saved or not. Wikipedia also has a small page on AP Italian, by the way.