The New Course Design (NCD) department leads the research, design, development, and launch of new courses and their associated exams, instructional resources, and teacher professional learning programs, ensuring consistency across these inter-related AP Program components and that they are engaging, feasible, and grounded in evidence. After launching a new course, the NCD department focuses on continuous improvement of new courses, exams, instructional interventions, and teacher professional learning programs. NCD partners closely with the Learning and Assessment division to design and validate new item types for use in new, career-focused AP exams, and then integrates with AP Program Enablement to produce the annual exam versions within the Bluebook digital testing platform (copyright, editorial, layout, design), and to develop annual rubrics and training materials necessary to conduct the annual AP Reading of student responses.