Teacher Training with AP Summer Institute

A student instructing other students during class

The Advanced Placement Summer Institute is an opportunity for high school teachers who have an enthusiasm for teaching and a desire to learn more about their content areas, pedagogy, and methodology to become certified to teach Advanced Placement (AP) credit courses. During the summer, the office of Professional Education at UNC Asheville will host high school teachers online who have an enthusiasm for teaching and a desire to learn more about their content areas, pedagogy, and methodology while becoming certified to teach Advanced Placement credit courses.

Week 1 (online): Monday, June 23, 2025 – Thursday, June 26, 2025

  • English Literature and Composition
  • World History: Modern
  • U.S. History

Week 2 (in-person): Monday, July 14, 2025 – Thursday, July 17, 2025

  • Computer Science Principles
  • Statistics
  • Calculus AB
  • English Language and Composition

Week 3 (online): Monday, July 21, 2025 – Thursday, July 24, 2025

  • Physics
  • Biology
  • Environmental Science

Week 4 (online): Monday, August 4, 2025 – Thursday, August 7 2025

  • Chemistry

The registration fee for the Online AP Summer Institute is $695. This includes College Board endorsed instruction materials. Acceptable forms of payment include VISA, MasterCard, check or money order, school credit card, and school purchase order. If your school will be paying for your certification, we are happy to work with you to make the process as easy as possible. We are accustomed to working with schools that have a wide variety of standards and procedures and we are willing to supply whatever paperwork you need. We will also work with teachers and hold your space in the class while the payment details are worked out. Registration fees are not refundable once a participant has registered. Schools may also substitute a new participant if the original participant chooses to cancel. Teachers will receive 3 CEUs upon successful completion of the institute. A certificate for these credits will be provided to teachers who successfully complete the institute.

Questions? Email Dean of Special Programs Lei Han at lhan@unca.edu.

AP Institute Consultants

Paula Phillips has taught AP Biology and related biological and chemical sciences in both public and independent schools for over twenty five years. She has been involved with the AP Reading to score the free response questions from the AP Biology Exam since 1994, serving as reader, table leader, and most recently as the Assistant Chief Reader. She conducts both one-day workshops and week-long summer institutes for the College Board at many universities across the nation. She has written and edited multiple choice questions for the AP Biology Exam and the SAT biology specific exam. She has written and edited teacher guides for AP Biology textbooks, and she has worked with Khan Academy to produce their AP Biology online course work. During her teaching career, she has been awarded scholarships to study biotechnology at Duke University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, and Cornell University. She has developed and taught summer biotechnology programs at Pfeiffer University, and she has gained experience working in a research lab in order to translate that skill into lessons for her students. She is a graduate of North Carolina State University and the University of Central Florida, and she currently resides in Ithaca, New York with her two children, Levi and Olivia.

Bill Compton has been teaching AP Calculus, AB (24 years) and BC (16 years), for the past 40 years and AP Computer Science A for the past 30 years at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tenn. He has been a reader or table leader at the AP calculus reading for 30 of the past 35 years and has been a College Board endorsed consultant in the southern region for the past 22 years. He has presented one day, student review, teaching and learning, and weeklong summer workshops. He graduated from Davidson College with a B.S. degree in mathematics and from Duke University with a M.A.T. in mathematics. He has presented 13 in person APSIs at UNCA and 4 virtual APSIs at UNCA in the past.

Todd Abronowitz is co-author of Fast Track to a 5: Preparing for the AP Chemistry Exam and co-author of the textbook Chemistry: An Atoms-Focused Approach and currently teaches all levels of chemistry at Parish Episcopal School in Dallas. Previously, he was the lead AP Chemistry teacher for Dallas ISD. Prior to this, he taught at John Paul II High School in Plano (and served as science department chair) for five years. He has also taught at Creekview High School, in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD for 8 years, and South Garland High School (Garland ISD) for six years. He has served as the lead chemistry teacher at Creekview High School. Since starting his teaching career in 1990, he has taught regular chemistry, honors chemistry, Pre-AP Chemistry and Advanced Placement Chemistry. He has started three AP chemistry programs at South Garland HS, Creekview HS, and most recently at John Paul II HS. He is involved with several professional organizations: Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT), Associated Chemistry Teachers of Texas (ACT2), and the American Chemical Society. He has presented workshops at several STAT Conferences for the Advancement of Science Teaching and Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society. He has presented at two-day conferences and one-day conferences for the College Board and has been the presenter for APSI in Texas and Arkansas. He served as a State Chemistry Textbook Review member for Texas in 2001. He was co- founder of a Traveling Science Show that performed shows across the DFW Metroplex. He wrote his own laboratory manual and study materials for use in his AP chemistry class. Mr. Abronowitz has received numerous awards including NMSI All-American Teacher of the Year 2012, Shultz Award for outstanding high school chemistry teacher from the DFW section of the ACS, Radio Shack National Teacher Award, Associated Chemistry Teachers of Texas Teacher of the Year in 2000, and Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year 1996.

Lynne Norris is currently the Director at the Center for Information Technology (CIT) at Deep Run High in Glen Allen, Virginia. In this specialty program Mrs. Norris leads innovative courses in technology that are rigorous, encourage higher-level thinking and provide practical applications to her students. Since joining the CIT, Mrs. Norris has revamped the curriculum to include game design, network security, enterprise architecture and application development. In addition to teaching, she sponsors five CyberPatriot teams, the Girls of CIT organization, her school’s Computer Club which has over 100 members and the Computer Science Honor Society. Mrs. Norris is passionate about providing her students with the best software tools and education possible to help them succeed now and in the future. She was an official College Board AP Computer Science Principles Pilot teacher for three years. She is currently a consultant for the College Board for Computer Science Principles and served as a reader for the CS Principles pre-reading in June of 2016 and the mini Explore reading in October 2016. Mrs. Norris was a table leader at the 2017 – 2019 AP Reading for CS Principles. Her awards include the Educator Award from the National Center for Women in Information Technology, Top Henrico Teachers Award, and the Innovation in Education Award from the Greater Richmond Technology Council. Mrs. Norris spent over twenty years in corporate America before following her lifelong dream of becoming a teacher.

Randy Gingrich has completed 31 years of public school teaching of English and gifted courses. He has primarily taught Advanced Placement Language and Composition, American Literature Honors, and 9th/10th grade gifted. Being very interested in curriculum development, he has presented numerous conference workshops in gifted and English Education, and been a reader at the AP Language and Composition program for the past 10 years. His dissertation for his doctorate involved the development of pedagogical and practical knowledge in novice English education students. His master’s thesis was on the use of orality to facilitate composition and literature skills in urban students.

Tammy Schoen just celebrated her 34 th year as a teacher. She taught in South Carolina from 1991-1997 prior to moving to South Florida. Tammy taught at Coconut Creek High School until helping to open Coral Glades High School in 2003. At Coral Glades, Tammy teaches AP Literature (and whatever else they give her) and serves as the Literacy Department Chair. Tammy has been active in many College Board programs: serving as a reader for AP Literature since 2003, and an Early Table Leader and Sample Selector for all three essay questions. Tammy has led AP half-day and full-day workshops as a national consultant, taught summer APSI’s and is a proud member of the Design Team who worked to create more support content for AP teachers everywhere through the CED and AP Classroom. She has contributed to several textbooks, seeking to help design engaging programs for young scholars. In her spare time, Tammy enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her family.

Carly Borken has taught secondary school science and geography since 2006. She has specialized in AP Environmental Science and AP Human Geography, but has also taught biology, chemistry, and marine science.  She spent 15 years teaching at the Taft School in Watertown, CT, and has spent the last two years teaching at Greens Farms Academy in Westport, CT.  At both schools, she has served as the Sustainability Coordinator, and she currently also serves as the 11th Grade Dean.  She has had many roles with the College Board as well, grading the APES exam since 2018, and has served as a table leader for the last three years. She has also been an OIW (outside item writer) of multiple choice questions for the Test Development Committee and contributed to the test bank for the 4th edition of Friedland and Reylea’s AP Environmental Science textbook.  She has served as an AP Consultant for the last three years, teaching summer courses for new AP teachers all over the country, and also works as an NMSI coach and content developer. She is also the mother of two very active kids, and her husband is an organic vegetable farmer.

Joshua Beck, teaches AP Physics at Clayton High School near Raleigh, North Carolina. He earned his BS in Physics Education from North Carolina State University. He has experience teaching AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, AP Physics C: Mechanics, as well as AP Physics B since 2008. Since 2013 he has been an item writer and reviewer for all AP Physics courses through College Board as well as ETS. He has extensive experience with the exam grading process, as he has participated in the AP Reading as a Reader, Table Leader, and Question Leader for P1, P2, and B exams. From 2018-2021 Joshua was a member of the AP Physics 2 Development Committee which consists of high school teachers and college professors who work together to develop AP Physics 2 exams that carefully align to the College Board curriculum, now he currently serves on ETS Content Development Team for Physics 2.  In 2020 and 2021 he taught AP Physics 1 on the College Board’s AP Live channel on YouTube to help prepare students around the world for their exams at a time when schools were following anything but ‘traditional’ schedules. Additionally he served as the Lead Teacher for AP Physics 1 for the creation of the original iteration of AP Daily videos found on AP Classroom, and currently creates and reviews new resources within AP Classroom following the refreshed physics 1, 2, and C courses. His involvement with the AP Physics courses has provided a base of knowledge and resources that extends far beyond just his classroom experiences. His role as a consultant is to share his own strategies, experiences and resources, while also facilitating a peer-to-peer directed collaborative learning environment, where everyone meets together as teachers, to learn valuable skills from other teachers.

Dr. Martin Sternstein retired after 45 years at Ithaca College. He is now “Professor Emeritus” and was honored by Princeton Review as one of the nation’s “300 Best College Professors.” He has strong interests in both national and international educational and social issues concerning equal access to math education for all. Marty spent two years in West Africa as Fulbright Professor at the University of Liberia, after which he developed a popular “Math in Africa” course, and he is the only mathematician to have given a presentation at the annual Conference on African Linguistics. He also taught the first U.S. course for college credit in chess theory. He has been a Reader and a Table Leader for the AP Statistics exam, has given over 100 College Board Pre-AP and AP workshops, and is the author of the Barron’s AP Statistics review book used by over 20,000 students each year.

Eric Leiden has been teaching High School Social Studies since 1997 in the state of Georgia and at Evans High School since 2000. He currently teaches AP (Advanced Placement) US History, AP Seminar, and US History through Film. He is the department chair and has served as the instructional coach for the Social Studies Department at Evans High. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Furman University and a master’s degree in history from Georgia Southern University. He has served as a reader, a table leader, and an early table leader for the AP US History exam for seventeen years. Mr. Leiden has led workshops for educators instructing students in writing and analytical skills for AP US History. Mr. Leiden facilitated workshops online for the Georgia Department of Education to support AP US History teachers in the state during the Pandemic. Mr. Leiden has coached Baseball, Girls Softball and Flag Football at Evans High School outside Augusta, Georgia. In his spare time, Eric enjoys traveling with his wife, spending time at the lake and training their two Labrador retrievers.

Aime La Porte-Lewis attended Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA and graduated with a degree in History and French Literature. She also has an M.Ed. in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. She has taught since 2004 in both public and private schools, and currently teaches at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School in Atlanta, GA. Over the course of her career thus far, Amie has taught World History, AP World History, Economics, AP Microeconomics, and various levels of French Language, including AP.  She currently teaches AP World History and AP Microeconomics, in addition to being the 10th grade dean of students and coaching cross-country, cheerleading and girls lacrosse at Holy Innocents’. Amie has been a reader for AP World History since 2008, and a table leader since 2015. Amie has contributed to AP Insight World History materials and has presented professional development for AP Insight both online and in day workshops. Additionally, she has lead AP Summer Institutes and one-day workshops for AP World History as an endorsed consultant for the College Board.  Recently, Amie was selected to serve on the AP World History Development Committee and began her service in the fall of 2017.

Test Proctoring

someone sitting at a laptop with study materials around them

Test Proctoring services are currently on hold. Contact the Academic Success Center at asc@unca.edu for more information.

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