According to the second annual report from the College Board, which administers the Advanced Placement program, about 60 percent of American high schools now offer Advanced Placement courses, and the average high school offers a choice of eight such courses.
“The number of students participating in A.P. has more than doubled in 10 years, and today almost 15,000 U.S. schools offer A.P. courses,” said Gaston Caperton, the president of the board, a New York-based nonprofit organization.
The percentage of American high school students passing A.P. exams increased in all 50 states last year, the report said. In the class of 2005, 14.1 percent of students received an A.P. exam grade of 3 or higher on one or more A.P. exams, up from 13.2 percent of the class of 2004, and 10.2 percent of the class of 2000.
A.P. exams in 35 subjects are given in May, at a cost of $82 each. They are graded on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 representing A-level college work, and 3 representing about a C+.
Barb Schrank earlier noted that East offers 8 AP courses, LaFollette 13, Memorial 16 and West 8. The District’s efforts in these areas appear to be going in different directions, with a growing effort to provide a one size fits all curriculum (West and Sherman examples) while recently receiving a grant to increase the number of AP classes. The District’s approach to Athletics has apparently not changed, though Kurt Vonnegut via his short story Harrison Bergeron, notes that 2081 might be the year for that.
Mr. Zellmer —
It is unfair to characterize West High’s curriculum changes as a “growing effort to provide a one size fits all curriculum.”
I sent 3 kids through West from 1991-2004. Since the late ‘90’s, I have coached the West High chess club. This has brought me into regular contact with a cross-section of high achieving students. I am struck by how hard they work, laboring under heavy loads of advanced courses while preparing for college entrance exams and completing the application process to top colleges. This has driven me to regularly chide my chess players for allowing their schoolwork to interfere with their chess.
Too often on this forum, labels (homogeneity, AP) are reflexively equated to academic rigor. When West fails to pay lip service to these labels, it is derided as “dumbing-down” the curriculum. In my experience of the past 15 years, high achieving West High students are both challenged and hard-working…and per the evidence, exceedingly numerous.
Your drive-by disparagement of West simply lacks substance. But having lived through years of empty criticism leveled at Midvale-Lincoln, it does not lack for precedent.
— Neil Gleason
With all due respect, Mr. Gleason, you need to educate yourself about what is happening at West HS RIGHT NOW. You sound like several other friends and neighbors of mine, whose children went through West 3 to 23 years ago. You are projecting your own child’s experience onto the current moment (and possibly even into the future), assuming that because your child had a wonderfully challenging education there, so are the current students. Your youngest graduated in 2004, you say; but that means it’s been four years since s/he was a freshman or sophomore, and it is on those two years — 9th and 10th grade — where the efforts to homogenize the curriculum have been targeted. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Mr. Gleason, but West HS has changed.
Mr. Gleason, when a school implements a single curriculum — say, English 9, Social Studies 9, English 10 or Social Studies 10 (with Science 9 and Science 10 soon to follow?) — when a school does that with the intention that each and every one of its 500-plus freshman and 500-plus sophomores will take the same course (no grouping by interest or ability or motivation and no “testing out” allowed), then it seems both accurate and fair to call it a “one-size-fits-all” approach to educating our children. More than that, it seems crucial to call it a “one-size-fits-all” approach … and disingenuous, even manipulative, to call it anything else. The administration says there will be differentiation, but clearly the administration has only the most superficial understanding of what successful differentiation is, what it REALLY takes (in terms of time, professional development and resources) in order to do it well, and what the limitations are.
Mr. Gleason, do you have any idea how bored and frustrated West’s brightest freshman and sophomores are these days? Any idea how much under-achievement and disengagement there is at West? Any idea how many of them are asking their parents to home school them or send them to private school? Any idea how concerned parents of younger bright children in the West attendance area are, how closely they are watching current developments there? Mr. Gleason, do you have any idea how many families have moved out of the West attendance area or are seriously contemplating doing so because of what is happening to the curriculum at West? It seems not, so I would suggest you find out.
Please do not take my tone personally. My frustration with District’s attitude towards its highest performing students is peaking these days. I have a 7th grader — and I don’t know where I’m going to send him to high school. It’s not a good place to be in.
Mr Gleason,
Of course there are bright, motivated kids at West. The argument is about what is happening to a curriculum that doesn’t take into account their special needs–they will not do well in a one-size-fits-all curriculum.
The one-size-fits-all curriculum does not adequately prepare our students to do well post-MMSD, at least at competitive colleges. Peers there have had the very real advantage of attending private high schools or public schools with a rich offering of AP classes and other curricula tailored to challenge bright students. Not only do West students not have AP science classes, they now won’t have the rich English and History experiences my children had.
Mr. Gleason, next time Chess Club meets, why don’t you ask your students themselves whether they feel challenged at West. They may have a lot of work to do, but is it mostly “busy work” or do they really feel they are learning as much as they are capable of? And is some of their time spent doing extra studying to make up for things they haven’t learned in their classes? (For example, compare West’s “Accelerated Math Physics” curriculum to that required to do well on the Physics SAT II).
My daughter graduated in 2004 too, and is now at an Ivy League university. She worked hard at West and got almost all A’s. But now, to second what Joan Knoebel said, my daughter finds she is well prepared in English and History but woefully underprepared in the sciences compared to her college classmates.
Neil,
Thank you for coaching the Chess Club. You’re certainly doing a service to the students and district, and you deserve credit for it.
The next time Chess Club meets, before you start asking whether students are challenged, go out into the hall and tell a number of students equal to the number in the Chess Club that they MUST be in the Chess Club; they don’t have a choice. Be certain that you have a fair representation of all ethnic, racial, income, and ability levels. Now you have double the number of students with half who don’t want to be there for any number of reasons and some who’ve never touched a chess piece. Call it Chess Club 10.
I am so confused by this district. Should all kids take Spanish I because they are a freshman (we need to take high level courses away) My kid who can’t through a ball should be able to be the quarterback for the football team because we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Oh ya, in music we need to take away 1st chair, Jazz Band, and different level music courses because we don’t want to hurt the child who doesn’t practice their instrument or the child who can’t carry a tune. And all kids should have to take Algebra as a Freshman and Geometry as a Sophomore. It doesn’t matter that they already took these classes in middle school.
Say there is a lawyer and a counter person at McDonald’s. They are both taking a course on tax law there is no prereguisites. In general the counter person is looking at the idea of that if you don’t pay your taxes you can get sued. The lawyer is looking at the judical level of the ramifications, the ins and outs, etc. The chances that these two could carry on the converstations that would be pertainant to both of them are very unlikely. It probably would be the lawyer, watering down the laws to get the counter person to understand. What is the lawyer learning in this class? Yes, they are learning how to deal with someone who doesn’t have the experience they do, on the other hand if they have to sit there day in and day out, every year, they will probably look for a different teacher or a different school.
I look at high preforming kids the same way. Take a student who in 9th grade has already published a book, scored a perfect score on the ACT/SAT. Is this child going to get his needs met when other kids in the class can’t read or understand Huckleberry Finn or even worse Shakespeare. I think about the girl who researching gene therapy with chemotherapy. Should she be sitting through a 9th grade science course? Shouldn’t these kids have academic peers and allowed to learn something new?
Granted these are extreme examples, but the district is becoming less willing to allow kids to find their interests. I am sure everyone wants to see all kids become successful. But if a child who learning comes easy, has an strong interest in an area or is very motivated to learn, shouldn’t they be allowed to take a higher level course?
We have to remember kids learn differently, and there is not one way to teach them. But this also means that some kids will learn faster and is it fair that they sit around for the year so the other kids catch up? Sometimes it is because the kids have been mentored, taken other classes or for heavens sake, learned faster than others.
A couple of other thoughts, Neil.
When students in Chess Club 10 practice, you cannot let experienced players play only other experienced players and beginners play only beginners. That would be tracking. So, players may only play opponents selected at random. If the most experienced player gets an opponent who knows nothing about chess, the experienced player will surely benefit, as will the beginner.
If you go to tournaments, you also have to randomly select those to go. Even if someone doesn’t want to go to a tournament, you have the authority to make them.
To Ed Blume and “edukation4u” (I wish you would use your real name so as not to sound like a spammer):
Much as I agree with you, please realize that you are diverting the discussion by bringing up extracurricular activities like chess, athletics, and music, or nonrequired subjects like Spanish.
Obviously our society recognizes competition and rewards talent in many of these areas. The problem, though is in the areas like English, History and Math which most people recognize as necessary for everyone. It is in these subject areas that people started worrying about students’ self-esteem if they are put on lower academic tracks and “labeled”.
I think it’s partly because these areas are so important that they are so contentious and subject to so many competing theories which muddy the waters.