The University of Notre Dame's  Advanced Placement® Teacher Investment Program (AP-TIP) partners with the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) to provide professional growth opportunities to Catholic high school teachers around the United States: AP® Excellence in Catholic Schools (APECS).

About APECS

APECS is designed to support teachers of AP math, science, or English courses in Catholic high schools where at least one member of the team is an ACE graduate or where school leadership has strong ties to the Institute for Educational Initiatives. 

This two-year program began in July 2021, and it continues to offer formal in-person training opportunities, such as the AP Summer Institute, as well as virtual PLCs, content area support, exemplary materials, and teacher stipends. This fully-funded program seeks individual teachers or small teacher groups from Catholic high schools to apply.

Benefits of the APECS Program

APECS teachers receive both professional support and incentives throughout their two-year membership.

• Teachers participate in high-quality professional growth opportunities.
• Teachers build connections to a broader community of Advanced Placement teachers.
• Teachers and schools leverage resources and support that engage all students.
• Teachers receive a stipend of up to $1,240 for full participation in the professional development events (e.g., AP Summer Institute, Mock Exam), including PLCs.
• Teachers may earn financial awards for reaching enrollment and achievement goals.

Application Process

The application to Cohort C of APECS is not yet open. 

• The following formation may be useful as your school considers its application:
  • School applicants should be prepared with school demographic data, as well as school-wide AP math, science, and English data for the previous two academic years.
  • Individual applicants should be prepared with school demographic data, as well as student data relevant to the AP course(s) taught during the previous academic year.
  • The post-application review may include an online interview of candidate teachers.   

Additional Information

For questions related to the application process, please contact
Karen Morris at  or Stephanie Kucsera at .