[Speed Gibson,
Wednesday March 22, 2006 at 8:43am]
Advanced Placement
I rarely read USA today, usually only in hotels when I travel. Tuesday's Life section had a cover story on the rising scrutiny and problems with the Advanced Placement (AP) concept. The stated purpose of AP is to give top high school students access to college level courses. It looks good on the transcript when applying for college, and often can exempt one from some of the "liberal arts requirement" courses.
But many college admissions officers are finding AP not all that telling as to whether an applicant will succeed in college. Some department heads are no longer allowing AP as a substitute for general education courses; they are not proving to know what their AP test certification says they know.
I'm happy to see this willingness to question this concept, one I have considered to be largely academic fraud. It's a distraction to make parents overlook all of the troubling statistics about their schools. As for the AP testing, how can scores be going up if the program is expanding to include lower GPA students?
Exactly. How about dealing with the problem that 30% of our high school graduates who go on to Minnesota colleges need remedial work, not honors courses. What about the graduation rate itself? And our appalling minority achievement gaps?
And are these courses really college level?
Right again. Age does matter. Maybe you saw American Idol last night. Even with Barry Manilow's help, most of the contestants were just too young to understand some of the complex songs they attempted.
Let's do this: any school that has a dropout rate over 10 percent, over a 10 percent minority gap, or over 10 percent of whose graduates need remedial courses later gets no public funding for AP courses. These problems come first.
But many college admissions officers are finding AP not all that telling as to whether an applicant will succeed in college. Some department heads are no longer allowing AP as a substitute for general education courses; they are not proving to know what their AP test certification says they know.
I'm happy to see this willingness to question this concept, one I have considered to be largely academic fraud. It's a distraction to make parents overlook all of the troubling statistics about their schools. As for the AP testing, how can scores be going up if the program is expanding to include lower GPA students?
We ought to work on (improving) the existing curriculum, not on funneling people into AP who aren't ready for it." -- Professor Michael Kirst, Stanford
Exactly. How about dealing with the problem that 30% of our high school graduates who go on to Minnesota colleges need remedial work, not honors courses. What about the graduation rate itself? And our appalling minority achievement gaps?
And are these courses really college level?
"There is something about a good undergraduate general education that can't be easily replicated by a terrific high school course." -- Professor Bruce Johnstone, University at Buffalo
Right again. Age does matter. Maybe you saw American Idol last night. Even with Barry Manilow's help, most of the contestants were just too young to understand some of the complex songs they attempted.
Let's do this: any school that has a dropout rate over 10 percent, over a 10 percent minority gap, or over 10 percent of whose graduates need remedial courses later gets no public funding for AP courses. These problems come first.