Apex Learning AP Macroeconomics Provides Online High School Students Access to Advanced Placement Course; Expands Offering with Interactive Courseware.

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 3, 2000

Apex Learning, Inc. (www.apexlearning.com), a leading provider of rigorous online curriculum products for high achieving students in K-12 education, today announced its most recent offering -- AP(a) Macroeconomics.

The fifth course in the Apex Learning product line, this online course provides 15 weeks of instruction and meets The College Board's recommendations for preparing students for the AP Exam in Macroeconomics.

This, like all Apex Learning courses, feature rich, challenging curriculum, further enhanced by a unique interactive approach linking students and highly-experienced AP teachers.

Using Apex Learning's AP Macroeconomics, schools now have the ability to offer advanced placement courses in macroeconomics where it was not possible before. "Apex provides advanced placement courses to schools that previously could not afford to offer such courses due to staffing constraints or scheduling issues," said Sally Narodick, president and CEO of Apex Learning. "By providing quality courses online, one or a few students in a school can participate in a virtual classroom with other students from around the country."

AP Macroeconomics provides 15 weeks of instruction in 7 units covering such topics as measuring of economic performance, models of the macro-economy, aggregate demand, money and banking, fiscal-monetary policy mix, trade-offs between inflation and unemployment, and international economics and growth. The course is the equivalent of an introductory, one-semester, college-level Macroeconomics course. During the course, students learn how economists identify trends in the economy and use these trends to develop performance measures and predictors of how the economy will grow or decline.

Students wishing to take AP Macroeconomics need to have prior experience reading and understanding moderately complex technical writing, have completed algebra II and should be able to read and interpret basic graphs. Students participate in the course, along with their peers, by logging onto the Apex Learning Web site at www.apexlearning.com.

The course features online tutorials, reading materials, writing assignments, and interaction with fellow students and the instructor.

Course Designers

The Apex AP Macroeconomics course was designed by Melissa Simmons, Alenn Bellas, and Stephen Buckles. Each content developer was chosen for their demonstrated expertise in delivering AP Macroeconomics information as an instructor.

-- Ms. Simmons is one of the main course designers and one of the main content
developers of the Apex AP Microecomics course. Prior to her current position
with Apex Learning, she taught at Albers School of Business and Economics,
Seattle University, in the economics department at the University of
Washington, and at Bellevue Community College.

-- Course designer Professor Bellas has taught economics at the University of
Washington and received the Langton Award for Outstanding Undergraduate
Teaching in 1994. He has also taught economics and statistics in the Albers
School of Business and Economics, Seattle University from 1996-99. Professor
Bellas first came to the Evans School in 1998 and received the ESPASO Teacher
of the Year award in 1999.

-- Course content advisor Professor Buckles is a Professor of Economics and
Senior Lecturer at Vanderbilt University, and recipient of many prestigious
teaching awards. He served as the chief executive officer of the National
Council on Economic Education, the nation's premier organization devoted to the
teaching of economics, and was elected President of the National Association of
Economic Educators. He chaired the College Board's Economics Advanced Placement
Committee.

Pricing and Technical Requirements

Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 98 with at least a Pentium 75 MHz processor, 16 MB RAM, and 50 MB available hard drive space. A sound card and speakers or headphones, a CD-ROM drive, a 28.8 kbps speed modem minimum, Internet access, and access to a printer. AP Macroeconomics is available for $395.00 per semester course, per student and includes registration and all necessary texts. Volume discount pricing is available.

Apex Learning's Advanced Placement(a) Courses

Apex Learning offers a line of Advanced Placement courses, including: U.S. Government & Politics, Statistics, Calculus AB, Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. The company also offers AP Exam Review, the best Web site for students to review in preparation for the AP Exam.

The Advanced Placement Program, sponsored by the College Board, encourages high school students to demonstrate mastery on very rigorous college level curriculum. As competition increases for admission to top colleges, a growing number of students are taking AP courses to demonstrate their academic strength and potential. Currently, one million high school students take AP exams each year, and this test-taking population is increasing 12 percent annually. The average AP student takes 1.6 exams a year, and many students take 4 to 5 tests by high school graduation.

About APEX

Apex Learning, Inc., www.apexlearning.com, is a Seattle-based company dedicated to providing rigorous online curriculum for high-achieving students and their teachers. Founded as a demonstration project in 1997 by Paul Allen, the company provides award-winning, highly- effective products by combining the interactivity and accessibility of the Internet with the experience of master teachers and content specialists. Apex Learning's current programming includes Advanced Placement Online Courses in five subject areas, including Calculus AB, Statistics, U.S Government and Politics, Microeconomics, and Macroeconomics. The company is privately held.

(c) Copyright 2000 Apex Learning, Inc. All rights reserved.

(a) Advanced Placement and AP are registered trademarks of the

College Entrance Examination Board, which was not involved in the

production of, and does not endorse, this product