ANNIVERSARY GALA - National Italian American Foundation

The NIAF Advanced Placement (AP)
Italian Campaign
—
The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) is an active partner with the Republic of Italy, through
Ambassador Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, and the Italian American community in the reinstatement of the
College Board’s Advanced Placement exam in Italian. The exam provides college credits for high school
students enrolled in the study of the Italian language. The agreement reached with the College Board, which
administers the exam, required an on-time donation of $3 million to endow the exam.
NIAF issued a challenge grant to raise funds for this initiative and
helped to meet that goal. Hon. Frank J. Guarini, NIAF Chairman
Emeritus, donated $250,000 and the NIAF Victoria J. Mastrobuono
Fund contributed $500,000, which allowed the Italian American
community to raise the remaining funds required by The College Board.
An agreement with the College Board was ratified in late 2010 and a Special Committee, named the Italian
Language Observatory, was established to fulfill the requirements of the agreement with the College Board.
It is chaired by Hon. Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata. The Observatory, working with its partner organizations,
including NIAF, has created a new website to promote the Italian language which we’re pleased to share with
you: http://www.usspeaksitalian.org.
The Observatory of the Italian Language is an organization with the goal of defining the course of Italian
studies, planning individual strategic actions, and coordinating all of the activities aimed at the development
and the diffusion of the language and the Italian culture in the United States.
The Observatory also has the responsibility to specify the objectives, to establish the times of achievement, to
publicize the initiatives of interest, and evaluate the results achieved. The Observatory is structured into three
action groups:
• The Teacher Group which identifies initiatives and incentives for teachers of the Italian language in the
United States and research, innovation and formation in teaching methodologies.
• The Student Group which identifies the best ways to inform family members, schools and students of the
opportunities offered by studying the Italian language in the United States.
• The Communication Group which collects and publicizes online the information on the diffusion of the Italian
language in the United States, creating a platform for dialogue between interested parties and the teachers.
The Observatory membership is made up of representatives from the Italian Embassy, the Italian Consular
Network in the United States, the managing authorities of Italian and culture courses, the principal associations
of the teaching of Italian in the United States, the major Italian-American organizations, and from
Italian and American universities.
Certain challenges to rebuilding the AP Italian program remain. More middle schools need to offer the Italian
language to ensure that students will be prepared for AP-level classes when they reach high school. Additionally,
the College Board needs to conduct the AP exam in Italian electronically, which lowers costs for administration.
These issues will need to be resolved but a major hurdle has been overcome by the reintroduction of the AP
exam, thanks to a real partnership between the Italian Government and the Italian American community.
50
The 2011 NIAF Gala