AP exams - pendulum swinging against?

[Anonymous]

Sorry if this has been covered, but .... I've heard that some schools, notably Sidwell, have gotten rid of AP exams. Is this a general trend? I know there has been criticism of students taking "too many" AP exams, but I'm curious as to whether this has translated into action at schools in the area.

[Anonymous]

...meaning they don't have AP classes? Sorry for my ignorance. What does this mean?

[Anonymous]

I think some schools have eliminated AP classes -- meaning there is not a separate class dedicated as accelerated toward preparing for the AP exam. However, many students still take the AP exams. (I don't have specific knowledge of Sidwell or other area schools on this point, but just read some general news article discussing the trend a while ago.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some schools have eliminated AP classes -- meaning there is not a separate class dedicated as accelerated toward preparing for the AP exam. However, many students still take the AP exams. (I don't have specific knowledge of Sidwell or other area schools on this point, but just read some general news article discussing the trend a while ago.)

Private schools can run courses that are as rigorous or more rigorous than public school AP classes where the AP exam is the most difficult thing about the course. Classes labeled AP at schools high on the testing can resemble test prep.

Privates courses can be more accelerated than those dedicated to preparing for a specific AP exam. In general this is one area where knowledge/familiarity of college admissions people with specific privates is very important. Also grades are usually lower at some privates than public schools.

[Anonymous]

7:06 makes it sound like public AP tests are lame test preps. If you want to think that, and it helps you justify your private school decision, be my guest.

It's undoubtedly true that the quality of public school AP classes varies from teacher to teacher and from school to school. But I'm sure that's true in the tailored private school classes as well.

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing that 7:06 didn't mean to be snarky. Perhaps that public schools, if they want to offer AP (i.e. College-level) classes, must also offer standard high school-level courses in the same subject as well. Perhaps what you are seeing is that by doing away with the AP label, private schools are implying that they are now offering only "AP-level" coursework in those subject areas and therefore can eliminate the AP/non-AP distinction since they aren't teaching the coursework at multiple levels of difficulty.

[Anonymous]

How can a parent validate that the private schools' "tailored" coursework is rigorous? It may not matter to many if it's as rigorous as the AP, because courses with different focuses can be worthwhile in their own right. But you do lose that standard measure that the AP test provides at the end of the day.

[Anonymous]

Any child can take the AP test, even kids who were not officially in "AP" classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:7:06 makes it sound like public AP tests are lame test preps. If you want to think that, and it helps you justify your private school decision, be my guest.

It's undoubtedly true that the quality of public school AP classes varies from teacher to teacher and from school to school. But I'm sure that's true in the tailored private school classes as well.

Input was based on parents who have experienced high school students in public and private. Variation does exist but parents have said the AP public school classes tend to resemble Kaplan test prep and review in many cases.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a source for this? Was it a DCUM thread? Seriously, I'd be interested in seeing it as we're looking at this choice.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor's kid graduated from Maret a couple of years ago with scores of 5 in five AP exams without ever taking a course labelled AP. She told me she had a friend who took eleven AP exams, similar scores. So much for the label, I guess.

[Anonymous]

It's more than a label, it's more like a curriculum. And, in some cases, it's a curriculum that is less less rich than what an excellent private school teacher might do left to her own devices. So, yes, a school can abandon "AP" and end up with kids doing better on AP tests.

At my DC's school the debate is ongoing, with the anti-AP faction more likely to be teachers (who would like more freedom in terms of course offerings) and the pro-AP more likely to be administrators (who know that schools may be judged on how many APs they offer) with parents and kids represented on both sides of the issue.

I tend to be more toward the "anti-" end of the spectrum, especially in school like ours where AP is open to all and where most kids seem to feel compelled to take the AP offerings rather than a comparably rigorous course with no AP test waiting at the end. That said, I think that a great teacher will be able to work within the constraints of the AP guidelines and still produce a great course.

Personally, I don't think APs really are the equivalent of college courses at anything other than a mediocre college. But colleges look at whether you take the most challenging courses your school offers and if those appear to be APs, you're sort of stuck taking them unless you can take actual college courses (or do CTY or something like that).