SHERMAN, TEXAS—Bob Cape, Austin College professor of classics has been named the new Chief Reader for the Advanced Placement Latin exam for four years, beginning in 2012. He completed his first Reading June 9-16 in Salt Lake City.
Every summer, thousands of high school and college faculty gather for “Readings” to score high school students’ AP exams in all areas. The Chief Reader is responsible for organizing the Reading in her/his subject, ensuring that the exams are scored fairly, and setting the cutoff point range for the final scores.
Latin is one of the smaller AP programs, but is not by any means the smallest. And, Cape said, it is growing, with a 6 percent increase in the number of students taking the Latin exam. Student enrollments put Latin at the fourth largest language taught in the United States, and new programs are starting up all over the country. Cape said some schools are using it as a marketing advantage to draw academically higher performing students away from schools that are cutting academic programs to save money. “We constantly need new teachers for the new programs, those that are growing, and to replace retiring teachers,” Cape said. “We really can’t train teachers fast enough to fill the need these days.”
The 2012-2013 academic year also marks the beginning of a brand new AP Latin course, with which Cape is heavily involved. He is co-author of the two books that will be used this summer to help teachers learn about and develop their courses, introducing them to the new author, Julius Caesar. “That Julius Caesar should be new sounds like an oxymoron,” Cape said, laughing. “But this isn’t your grandfather’s Caesar. Nor are the ways we teach Caesar, or Vergil, or the other authors very much like what was done years ago.” Now, the interest extends beyond grammar and vocabulary to issues such as leadership, imperialism, ethnic identity, and gender roles in different societies, he explained. “Of course, knowing the elements of the language is crucial and central,” said Cape, “but there is so much more to any text, as communication, as part of a culture, that we need to understand. These texts speak to us and to issues in our lives today. It isn’t that they have the answers, but they can show us alternatives we may not have considered. They enlarge our capacity for creative and intelligent response, if we are not too arrogant to listen.”
After the AP Latin Reading, Cape will offer workshops for teachers in Las Vegas, Orlando, Tulsa, and Denver.
Austin College is a leading national independent liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas. Founded in 1849, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original charter and name, the college is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA). Recognized nationally for academic excellence in the areas of international education, pre-professional training, and leadership studies, Austin College is one of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives.