Taught by Dr. Kamasi Hill
The 4-Day AP® African American Studies Advanced Placement Institute (APSI) provides educators with a comprehensive introduction to the AP® African American Studies Course and Exam Description (CED), with a focus on the course’s structure, key themes, and interdisciplinary nature. Participants explore how the course spans from ancient African civilizations through the African diaspora and contemporary movements, connecting history, literature, art, geography, music, and culture. The institute emphasizes the importance of primary sources—including artifacts, texts, speeches, photographs, and creative works—from units 1–4 to anchor instruction in authentic materials that highlight the voices and agency of people of African descent.
Throughout the institute, teachers engage with AP® Classroom, learning how to use its resources for instructional planning, formative assessment, and data-driven evaluation. Participants explore topic questions, progress checks, and personal progress dashboards to track student understanding and align daily lessons with learning objectives and essential knowledge statements from the CED. Sessions include model lessons that integrate primary sources (e.g., “Letter from Nzinga Mbemba,” “The Stono Rebellion,” “The Great Migration,” “The Combahee River Collective Statement”) to demonstrate how teachers can engage students in close reading, contextualization, and evidence-based writing aligned to AP® skills.
Educators also practice designing and assessing formative and summative tasks using AP-style rubrics. They explore ways to scaffold key historical reasoning skills—such as source analysis, argumentation, comparison, causation, and continuity and change—through student-centered activities, discussions, and project-based learning. Evaluation techniques focus on equitable grading, culturally responsive feedback, and alignment with College Board performance expectations.
Finally, participants study the four components of the AP® African American Studies Exam:
- Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) that assess understanding of course content and primary sources;
- Document Based Question (DBQ) 5 document analysis with an essay
- Free Response Question (FRQ) essays that evaluate students’ historical reasoning and synthesis; and
- The Individual Student Project (ISP)—a unique performance task that allows students to research and present a topic of personal interest connected to the African diaspora.
By the end of the APSI, teachers leave with an actionable plan for teaching, planning, assessing, and evaluating AP® African American Studies in ways that foster critical thinking, interdisciplinary learning, and cultural relevance. The institute equips educators with both the content confidence and pedagogical tools to empower students to engage deeply with African American history, culture, and intellectual traditions.