You may view the K-13 Continuum of AIG Services and Advanced Learning Opportunities available in Lee County Schools.   

At the high school level, students have a wide variety of options for advanced academic opportunities, including: 

• Advanced Placement (AP)

• Credit by Demonstrated Mastery (CDM)

• Diploma Endorsements

• Distance Learning

• Dual Enrollment / Career & College Promise (CCP)

• Early College

• Extracurricular Opportunities

• Honors Courses

• International Baccalaureate (IB)

• NC Governor's School

• Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics at NCSSM

• Advanced Placement (AP) courses follow a college-level curriculum published by The College Board. Each year in May, an AP Exam is available for any AP Course, and students can receive free college credits with a qualifying score on the exam. 

• Beginning in 2018, each public college or university in North Carolina offers students credit for every score of at least 3 on an AP Exam. You can find more information about North Carolina's Advanced Placement credit policy here. 

• Currently AP courses are offered at both Lee County High School and Southern Lee High School in a wide variety of subjects. The specific availability of any particular course is subject to change due to student interest. Please view the current Lee County Schools High School Course Registration Guide for the most up-to-date course selection options.

• You can view a comparison of AP, IB, and CCP courses here.

• CollegeBoard awards students with certain designations if they earn high enough scores on enough AP Exams, including AP Scholar, AP Scholar with Honor, and AP Scholar with Distinction. These are announced by the CollegeBoard each July, and students are recognized at the August meeting of the Lee County Board of Education.

• Southern Lee High School offers a Collaborative for A.P. Success (CAPS) Program for students in grades 10-12 to receive assistance and guidance for their AP courses. 

• Please visit the Credit by Demonstrated Mastery webpage for additional information about this opportunity!

• The state of North Carolina has five diploma endorsements available to public school graduates who meet certain criteria: a Career Endorsement, a College Endorsement, a College/UNC Endorsement, a NC Academic Scholars Endorsement, and a Global Languages Endorsement.

  • Career Endorsement indicating completion of a rigorous course of study that includes a Career Technical Education concentration

  • College Endorsement indicating readiness for entry into NC Community Colleges

  • College/UNC Endorsement indicating readiness for entry into a four-year university in the University of North Carolina system

  • NC Academic Scholars Endorsement indicating that students have completed a balanced and academically rigorous high school program preparing them for post-secondary education

  • Global Languages Endorsement indicating proficiency in one or more languages in addition to English.

• Additional information about the requirements for these diploma endorsements can be found on the NCDPI website.

• Students are able to register to take online courses through the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS), which offers some elective courses which would otherwise not be available to students.

• North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) also offers a supplemental online course program which students may apply to be a part of while remaining enrolled at their home school.

• Students who are interested in distance learning opportunities should talk to their school counselor.

• Students at any high school are eligible to take free college classes for credit at Central Carolina Community College (CCCC). These classes may be seated in person at CCCC or taken online.

• When high school students register for their next-year courses each spring, the student may select CCCC to fill one or more of their electives. Students will later meet with their school CCCC liaison to register for the specific course(s) they are interested in taking. 

• You can view a comparison of AP, IB, and CCP courses here.

• Students who are residents of Lee County, who graduate from high school between 2019 and 2023, and who accumulate at least 4 college courses or 12 college credit hours (earned through dual enrollment, AP, IB, or CTE courses) may qualify for the Career and College Promise (CCP) program, where they receive up to two years of free tuition and fees to attend CCCC. 

• An early college is a specialized school designed to provide students with the opportunity to earn both their high school diploma and a two-year college degree (or two years of transferrable college credits) in four or five years. 

• Lee Early College is located on the Sanford campus of Central Carolina Community College (CCCC). All students take Honors-level courses to complete their high school graduation requirements, receive thorough advising at every grade level, and take transferrable college classes at CCCC so that they may complete an Associate's Degree by the end of their 12th grade year or by the end of an additional year beyond 12th grade.

• All 8th grade students at the middle schools take field trips with their classes to tour Lee Early College and learn about its program, and every interested 8th grade student (regardless of whether or not they are identified as AIG) is encouraged to apply. 

• The AIG & Advanced Learning Department sponsor Quiz Bowl, Science Olympiad, Chess Club, and Battle of the Books at all high schools in the district!

  Please visit the Extracurricular Opportunities webpage to learn more!

• Honors courses are designed to be more intellectually challenging than standard-level courses in order to foster growth for advanced learners.

• Some courses are offered at both the standard level and the Honors level, and some courses are designated as inherently Honors (meaning there is no standard-level version of the course, like Honors Pre-Calculus or Honors Forensic Science). 

• Honors courses are not intended to provide students with an increased volume of work and assignments to complete. Honors courses are intended to provide opportunities for increased intellectual engagement with the content. 

• Honors-level courses are available in all four core disciplines (English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies) beginning as early as 9th grade.

• Arts Education courses are inherently honors-level at the Proficient level, which is typically the third semester of an Arts Education discipline (e.g. Visual Arts Proficient Honors, Theater Arts Proficient Honors, Vocal Music Proficient Honors). 

• World Language courses are inherently honors-level beginning in the third course in a sequence (e.g. Spanish III Honors, French III Honors, Latin III Honors).

• Several Career and Technical Education courses are also offered at the Honors level. 

• Please view the current Lee County Schools High School Course Registration Guide for the most up-to-date course selection options.   

• International Baccalaureate (IB) courses follow a college-level curriculum with a corresponding exam, and students can receive free college credits with a qualifying score on the exam. 

• International Baccalaureate courses in a wide variety of subjects are currently offered at Lee County High School. The specific availability of any particular course is subject to change due to student interest. Please view the current Lee County Schools High School Course Registration Guide for the most up-to-date course selection options.    

• You can view a comparison of AP, IB, and CCP courses here.

• Lee County High School also hosts an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (I.B.D.P.), which allows students who take a certain array of IB courses and meet additional requirements to earn an I.B. Diploma. 

• Offered to students during the summer between 10th and 11th grade or between 11th grade and 12th grade. 

• Offered to students during the summer between 11th and 12th grade. 

• This is the oldest statewide summer residential program for academically or intellectually gifted high school students in the nation. The competition is intense and rigorous with the brightest, most outstanding AIG students in the state of North Carolina applying for a limited number of positions. Interested students need to seek additional information regarding dates and the application process from their school's guidance counselor. The following link will be helpful as students who are currently juniors prepare to apply to the NC Governor's School: http://www.ncgovschool.org.