Page 9 - Priorities #33 2006-April

Fourth Decade
Advanced Placement Assumptions Are Being Tested—A Little
Advanced Placement classes—the darlings of college admissions officers a decade ago—may be losing some of their shine. While many studies historically show their value in predicting college success,
at least two significant current studies question that finding, and a highly regarded professional organization questions whether APs are superior to (or occasionally even as good as) well taught high school level college prep courses.
Nationally, there are signs of change. Schools without a strong AP curriculum and enrollment
are expanding their AP offerings and providing services such as summer prep courses to assure that students can succeed. At the same time, a few strong college prep schools are publicly backing away from unqualified support for AP classes. And some colleges are raising the bar in terms of scores they will accept for college credit.
On the San Francisco mid-Peninsula, most college prep schools now offer a wide range of APs (the Priory offers 18). Compared with 10 years ago, students take more AP classes and begin taking them earlier, some in freshman year.
Many highly academic schools nationally and locally are asking themselves a few questions in light of changes over the past decade. For the students, are more AP classes always better? Do they predict better success in college? Do they always encourage the best teaching?
Nationally, there are some important benefits. Less affluent students with good AP scores can often pass out of those classes in college and their tuition bill will be reduced. Students who have not thought of themselves as “college material” may develop a more positive academic self-image.
Highly academic schools with established AP programs are looking at some other concerns.
Will the AP classes better prepare students to do better in college?
There is a growing body of evidence that students who do the AP curriculum don’t get better grades in college than students who took good college prep classes. Most current information seems pointed towards math and science.
A 2002 report by the National Research Council questions whether AP curricula in math is too rushed for high school students to develop good problem-solving skills and transfer that knowledge to other academic fields. Another study (incomplete but presented in February at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting) indicates that the rigor of a student’s math training is the best predictor of college success in science, whether the class has the AP label or not. Good teachers and the opportunity to use math
to problem-solve in science labs are the important ingredients, the study’s author said.
Colleges’ views of AP training may be changing. In the past, a student’s grade of 3, 4 or 5 (on a scale of 1-5) on an AP test would be accepted for college credit at most schools. Now, some schools advise (but don’t require) re-taking the class, and some schools are raising the requirement. Harvard now only credits scores of 5.
9
Rodin
Students are lucky to have one of the most complete Rodin exhibits in the world at Stanford University available to them. Study of Rodin’s work could apply to history, art,
or the language and culture class shown here.
Solid college prep classes may be as good or better, and may exempt students from “too-many-APs” stress, recent studies show.
Academics