GDS just dropped AP testing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wording is key.

It’s true, there is no negative effect if a school does not have any AP classes to offer. The problem here is that is meant for schools in poorer districts that cannot afford to have AP programs and teachers got those classes or where there is very little interest by the majority of the student body.

A ‘top’ private, that charges $$$$, and has a mostly wealthy and privileged clientele that decides no more APs or AP exams is a red flag that’s obviously trying to game the system and rely solely on reputation. They know their students can’t compete with the public school kids in this area.

yep. Jackson Reed (DCPS) is next door and kids start cranking out APs in 10th grade there. Top kids will take 15+ but their pass rate (scores of 3+) on most is in the teens. My neighbor's kid was in 2 APs last year that didn't have teachers for 6+ months. So the kids just all got As for doing nothing (they couldn't grade them as there were no teachers to give any assignments).

The JR pass rate is actually around 58%. Not saying that is anything amazing, but why make up s**t.

+1

This is crazy. JR has it’s own host of plus and minuses but we’re a W school family who could easily afford a private but once more are laughing at this nonsense. I used to say that 3 privates schools would be worth the commute but at that time my kids and their sports and stem paths were already keeping us in mcps. But now you couldn’t pay us based on this bull. I have one kid left and two in top 20 college both who did APs. Good luck.

You’re in the wrong chat, dear. There are public school forums somewhere on DCUM, but this isn’t it. Go find your people.
Bye bye!

Sorry, hon. It’s an open forum and a private parent upthread had to make this about public vs. private. If you don’t want an open discussion, stay on topic or pay the mod to make this forum exclusive. Maybe $50k/yr each would do it.

That sounds like a great idea. You definitely can’t afford that price. Your posts reveal your poverty.

Off you go then. We’ll miss you but will soldier on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD13 is starting 8th grade and we need to apply for high schools in January. She will go to university overseas as we cannot afford the US system. I knew GDS had stopped offering AP courses but didn’t know they were still doing AP testing. What difference does dropping the testing part make?

None because if you can't afford an American university, you can't afford GDS either

Bollocks
GDS $40-45k. US university w/ housing etc 90k per year.

A very small percentage of US universities with housing are 90K per year.

I feel sorry for anyone paying full sticker price. School must have not been very interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They had dropped the AP courses a few years ago (collusion case successfully brought by DOJ as a result of this as we all remember).

Now GDS just announced that they are dropping AP testing

"Over the last year, our team has been in conversation with dozens of college admissions offices from small liberal arts colleges to large flagship state institutions. In each of these conversations, we have confirmed what we shared with families when GDS moved away from AP courses: For college admissions, there is no advantage to taking AP tests if you attend a high school that does not offer that coursework."

Is this statement true? How about the increasing # of kids who have been applying and matriculating at UK/Ireland/Canadian schools? How about schools like NYU that actually take AP testing in lieu of SAT/ACT (optional of course).

Something about this decision sits wrong with me...they are making it even harder for the subset of students who dont want to go to SLACs.

Also what about the college credit that some schools - esp. state flagships still offer for AP tests 4+

How's that for GDS equity mission?

GDS seems determined to make life hard for its students (and their parents):

1. No cafetería;
2. Students can only apply to 10 colleges maximum;
3. Structure? What structure?; and
4. No AP classes and now we won’t even administer the exams.

Why are parents paying GDS to mistreat them?!?

If you’re not a Gds parent why do you care?

We turned GDS down for a Big 3 a couple of years ago. I have a rising 7th grader at a K-8th. This post confirms that we made the right decision, and we’ll avoid applying to GDS for my youngest child.

If you need reassurance two years later and are finding it on DCUM, you lead a very sad life

[Anonymous]

So how soon do GDS students have to start looking for another school where they can take these tests? What if the schools are full? Will GDS student have to miss classes to take the tests?

[Anonymous]

I think that GDS parents should have anticipated that at some point the school would stop offering the AP test. I understand it’s inconvenient but any school that no longer offers AP course at some point will also stop offering the exam. GDS should provide a list of schools in the DMV where students can take the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They had dropped the AP courses a few years ago (collusion case successfully brought by DOJ as a result of this as we all remember).

Now GDS just announced that they are dropping AP testing

"Over the last year, our team has been in conversation with dozens of college admissions offices from small liberal arts colleges to large flagship state institutions. In each of these conversations, we have confirmed what we shared with families when GDS moved away from AP courses: For college admissions, there is no advantage to taking AP tests if you attend a high school that does not offer that coursework."

Is this statement true? How about the increasing # of kids who have been applying and matriculating at UK/Ireland/Canadian schools? How about schools like NYU that actually take AP testing in lieu of SAT/ACT (optional of course).

Something about this decision sits wrong with me...they are making it even harder for the subset of students who dont want to go to SLACs.

Also what about the college credit that some schools - esp. state flagships still offer for AP tests 4+

How's that for GDS equity mission?

GDS seems determined to make life hard for its students (and their parents):

1. No cafetería;
2. Students can only apply to 10 colleges maximum;
3. Structure? What structure?; and
4. No AP classes and now we won’t even administer the exams.

Why are parents paying GDS to mistreat them?!?

If you’re not a Gds parent why do you care?

We turned GDS down for a Big 3 a couple of years ago. I have a rising 7th grader at a K-8th. This post confirms that we made the right decision, and we’ll avoid applying to GDS for my youngest child.

If you need reassurance two years later and are finding it on DCUM, you lead a very sad life

I don’t need reassurance. I’m just extremely relieved that I dodged that bullet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that GDS parents should have anticipated that at some point the school would stop offering the AP test. I understand it’s inconvenient but any school that no longer offers AP course at some point will also stop offering the exam. GDS should provide a list of schools in the DMV where students can take the test.

But just because a school is offering the test doesn’t mean they have unlimited space and they will make sure their own students are accommodated first. How soon should students sign up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that GDS parents should have anticipated that at some point the school would stop offering the AP test. I understand it’s inconvenient but any school that no longer offers AP course at some point will also stop offering the exam. GDS should provide a list of schools in the DMV where students can take the test.

many - possibly most - private schools stopped teaching AP curriculum some time ago and most are still offering the exams. they're too valuable to some admissions in US, most admissions outside US, for placement and credit ($$$$). it's really not that hard to offer this, and a real burden on families. not like doing the SAT off site. it's a pain.

[Anonymous]

My DDs private does not offer AP classes and we are not looking outside the US for college so we are still undecided about whether she will take any AP exams. I think you need to register by sometime in November but there is a late registration up to March.

[Anonymous]

It makes sense that they stopped offering the exams because they did a poor job of communicating that the AP exams were offered at GDS and some parents were furious that they didn’t figure out early enough to get their kid tutored for the exams while other kids and parents had it all figured out. There were many complaints about how GDS had a hypocritical approach towards AP exams. Criticizing them on one hand while also validating them by offering some of the exams at school

[Anonymous]

Why has GDS handled the AP exam situation so much worse than other private schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that GDS parents should have anticipated that at some point the school would stop offering the AP test. I understand it’s inconvenient but any school that no longer offers AP course at some point will also stop offering the exam. GDS should provide a list of schools in the DMV where students can take the test.

many - possibly most - private schools stopped teaching AP curriculum some time ago and most are still offering the exams. they're too valuable to some admissions in US, most admissions outside US, for placement and credit ($$$$). it's really not that hard to offer this, and a real burden on families. not like doing the SAT off site. it's a pain.

I understand, my child’s private does not offer AP but is still offering some exams. I wouldn’t be surprised when we get an email that they will no longer offer any exams. We were already advised to check with other schools if we want to take exams that the school no longer offers.

[Anonymous]

Gds parent here. No big deal. I bet most posters vociferating on this thread don’t even have kids at GDS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gds parent here. No big deal. I bet most posters vociferating on this thread don’t even have kids at GDS!

No one expects GDS parents, like yourself, to say anything other than “no big deal” in response to this nonsense. Otherwise, you would actually have to do something. At this point, it’s clear that many GDS families are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gds parent here. No big deal. I bet most posters vociferating on this thread don’t even have kids at GDS!

No one expects GDS parents, like yourself, to say anything other than “no big deal” in response to this nonsense. Otherwise, you would actually have to do something. At this point, it’s clear that many GDS families are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

You just can’t imagine that some people may not care about the same things as you.