Demoting Advanced Placement

Joe Berger:

This town’s public high school, well known for turning out some of the nation’s finest college prospects, is contemplating a step that would seem to betray its competitive reputation: eliminating Advanced Placement courses.
Scarsdale High School is a place where 70 percent of the 1,500 students take an A.P. course, and many take five and six to impress college admissions officers with their willingness to challenge themselves. But like a few private schools, Scarsdale is concluding that the A.P. pile-on is helping turn the teenage years into a rat race where learning becomes a calculated means to an end rather than a chance for in-depth investigation, imagination, even some fun to go along with all that amassing of knowledge.
“People nationwide are recognizing what an inhuman obstacle course college admission is, and a big element of that is A.P.,” said Bruce Hammond, director of college counseling at Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque, which dropped A.P. courses a few years ago.

5 thoughts on “Demoting Advanced Placement”

  1. Seems to me that they would get a lot farther by keeping the AP classes and allowing students some real choice about whether or not to take them. Gutting AP opportunities in the guise of letting the kids have fun vs. the presumable “rat race” of taking AP classes, begs the question of what this does to students who actually think the AP classes are FUN.
    I realize that this makes no sense to people who find AP to be drudgery. And I am the first to argue that students should not be pushed to jump higher, do more, be smarter, etc. if that is not what they are about. (The number of burnt out “performers” that are seen at the college level is one compelling reason to get off the kids’ backs.)
    I’ve also seen situations where students take AP classes to improve their college selection chances and end up hurting their admissions prospects because they don’t do well. Desires, ability, and motivation are key factors that cannot be ignored.
    There are, however, some students for whom AP and other advanced opportunities are a lifeline. To dismiss their needs as pile-on, a calculated means to and end, lacking imagination or fun is unhelpful and ignores the question of whether the problem is school and parent culture or it is AP courses.

  2. Thanks for posting this Jim and thanks for your astute thoughts, Lucy.
    It sure sounded like that school district was going to offer an honors curriculum in lieu of AP; in other words, this wasn’t a move away from academic differentiation. It sounded as though the faculty felt constrained by having to follow the AP curriculum, that they wanted more freedom and flexibility. The point: Scarsdale isn’t moving towards West’s English10 nor would it have the same impact given that 70% of the student body moves on to an “elite” college.
    As for the assertion that AP is only useful as a tool to getting into upper echelon colleges, that it won’t count towards college credit, I have to take issue. First, at UW, a student really can finish early. Second, at Stanford, students can bring in 45 AP credits, the equivalent of the first year. While they have to be in residence for four years, many students take advantage of these credits to 1) accelerate out of intro classes, especially in their major, 2) double major, 3) better enable study abroad, and/ or 4) complete or nearly complete a master’s degree in that same four-year period.
    Lucy’s point, that AP isn’t for everyone is well-taken. It shouldn’t be forced on a student, especially under the mistaken belief that it pads a resume. But many students are ready for the rigor and advanced study, whether it is a nationally recognized program like AP or an honors curriculum developed locally.

  3. Ironic twist from President Bush’s comments on No Child Left Behind Authorization, October 5, 2006. While one might fear the possibility of bringing NCLB to America’s high schools, this is one heck of an ironic twist:
    3. We Must Improve Our High Schools. We need to bring the same high standards and accountability of NCLB to America’s public high schools. The President calls on Congress to pass his proposed $1.5 billion initiative to fund testing early in high school and to help teachers fix problems before it is too late, and his proposed program to train 70,000 teachers over five years to lead Advanced Placement classes in high school.
    http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/education/

  4. Indeed AP isn’t for everyone. However, I have a couple of examples of kids who DID benefit from AP courses.
    A Junior student had some struggles throughout his school years, due to his premature birth and resultant difficulties with math as well as continued seizures. A teacher encouraged him to consider taking an AP History course, which he did and he scored well on the exam. Having success in that class was a powerful benefit to him. For the first time, he began to be convinced that he could be successful in college level courses. He is pursuing attending a state college.
    A bright minority student whose family had limited financial resources was of the viewpoint that she would never be able to attend college. She planned to work cleaning hotel rooms with her mother. After taking and doing well in an AP English course (she did this to be with her friends taking the course), she was excited about her success. She started to look into 2 and 4 year colleges and hoped to attend part time while working part time to fund her education.
    For those students and others like them, AP is important. AP courses continue to be well recognized throughout the country. Many students from Madison will be seated in college courses next to many students who had exposure to a broad base of concepts through enrollment in an AP course. All students in a UW course that I teach this semester had taken one or more AP courses.
    Within our district we have 2 high schools seemingly supportive of AP and 2 who are not. Could we take a look at potential benefits and extend them to all students? Of course, this would just be as one option for those students who may want to take such a course.
    We continue to need to meet the needs of ALL students in the district at ALL performance levels. We need to meet the unique needs of each student in the district in any possible way.

  5. Yes, we need to meet the needs of all students at all performance levels.
    Whether a AP course is effective and available to students for whom it would be beneficial is the key — not whether it’s called an AP course.
    At West, I’ve seen AP courses run for the upper 1%, rather than for the upper 10% to 20%. How were these courses run? Assign the problems; Next day, any questions? None? Here are the next set of problems. This is “teaching by mentioning it” — a technique that works for the upper 1% or for those who have resources at home or support elsewhere to make up for the lack of teaching in the classroom.
    And, no matter the diversity of school itself, what is clear is the typical segregation within the school.
    I will claim, does anyone disagree?, that the contents of AP courses are not so advanced as to be for “rocket scientists” only; they could be and should be available to kids of lesser achievement. For kids who are interested, these courses, and success in these courses, should be reasonably available to them.
    So the question will remain, is the AP course offered to truly educate for all those capable of learning the material, or for the parental bragging rights? So how are the AP courses run, Honors courses run, or the regular courses run?
    I’ve been a “mentor” for IT Academy at the UW. This academy is for bright minority kids who are interested enough in computers to meet every other Saturday during the 4 years in high school, with the goal of helping enter UW-Madison. Many are successful, some have been accepted to Stanford and MIT.
    But, this IT Academy helps kids with study skills, language, general academic support, in addition to learning computer skills. They get help with their high school courses. They get personal attention! — time is made for them.
    Lucy’s example of student’s doing poorly in AP, and Marcia’s example of student with struggles doing well may be examples of the differences in the quality of AP teaching, and availability of resources that improve the chances for success.
    It’s not enough to offer AP courses. AP courses need to be part of a continum quality curriculum and quality teaching.

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