Notgrass History high school curriculum was developed with the goal of providing students a rich, meaningful, engaging study of the given topic from a Christian worldview. Our courses are not officially designated as honors or AP courses, though they are not necessarily incompatible with these designations.
Tens of thousands of families have used Notgrass History curriculum successfully to meet their educational goals. Our curriculum is intellectually stimulating and spiritually maturing, but it is also easy to use and understand. Students who go to college and students who don't go to college have been able to benefit from our materials.
The College Board (CB) is a private company that oversees both AP (Advanced Placement) and CLEP (College-Level Examination Program) designations. The CB determines whether a course qualifies to be designated as AP. The curriculum and syllabus must be submitted to the CB, and their personnel review the submission and issue their decision. A student still must take the AP exam on the subject to receive AP credit. As mentioned, Notgrass History has not been officially designated as an AP course by the College Board. You may, however, take advantage of AP exams after using Notgrass History high school materials. Check with the College Board for more information on how to prepare for AP tests and how to register to take them. We have received reports from parents who found that their students did well on AP exams after using Notgrass History curriculum.
The CLEP program allows students to take examinations in a number of subject areas for the purpose of earning college credit. Each college or university determines what CLEP exams it will accept and how much credit a student can earn through CLEP exams. The reports we have received from families is that, after using Notgrass curriculum and a typical CLEP preparation book, students frequently do well on CLEP exams. We did not tailor our curriculum to the corresponding CLEP exam, but our curriculum does provide a thorough study of the given subject.
The designation of a course as "honors" is determined by a school system, high school, subject department, and/or teacher. There are some commonly included standards, materials, and approaches that honors programs use, but the determination is on a case-by-case basis. Since this is true, you as the parent or the agency you report to would have the responsibility of designating a course as "honors" on the student's transcript. If you wish to designate some of your student's high school courses as "honors," thoroughly research what is required in your particular situation (based on your state's graduation requirements and the requirements of colleges to which you plan to apply.) If your child applies to college, you might have to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the admissions office that a given course is indeed "honors."