Italian American Groups Speak Up to Save AP Language Test

The Washington Post
July 3, 2008

Daniel de Vise reports on responses to the possibility that the College Board may eliminate AP Italian classes. Prominent Italians and Italian-Americans, including Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta and Matilda Cuomo, wife of former New York governor Mario Cuomo, have mobilized to save the classes. "We cannot have the Italian program eliminated. It is too important to us," said Maria Wilmeth, co-director of the Italian Cultural Society of Washington. The tests are in danger of elimination because of the small number of students who take AP Italian classes. Only 2,000 students were in enrolled this year, and the $84 fee required to take the exam does not cover the costs of producing it. The Italian classes were begun in 2006, with an initial funding injection of $500,000 by the Italian government and Italian-American community groups. The community is looking into finding more funding to keep the classes alive past 2009.

(... Read the article.)

source: [ The OELA Newsline from NCELA ]