Holton-Arms No AP Classes

[Anonymous]

During Open House we learned that Holton no longer offers AP classes. There are lots of advanced classes available and the staff doesn’t want to be constrained by teaching to the test per the administration. Students can take AP tests and wondering how that plays out? Do students need to get a tutor specifically for AP exams or are they able to study on their own? Can any current parents advise?

[Anonymous]

Not a big deal. My DD did fine with just buying a book to look at format. The classes taught teach the material, just not AP label.

[Anonymous]

Yea all the fancy privates colluded a couple of years ago and agreed on this because the publics were kicking their butts on APs and the privates wanted to distinguish themselves from the publics to justify their exorbitant tuitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yea all the fancy privates colluded a couple of years ago and agreed on this because the publics were kicking their butts on APs and the privates wanted to distinguish themselves from the publics to justify their exorbitant tuitions.

This

Is a fake differentiator not to offer it. A good teacher will still hold some prep sessions in the late spring, especially if for a subject where a 5 gets one waived out of a pre-req or into an advanced class (ie calc, science, CS requirement, Spanish, etc/- see college website).

[Anonymous]

Schools have to pay the college board to use the AP label. Sounds like your school is looking to save itself some money?

[Anonymous]

No APs is old news. The Big 5 or whatever you want to call them (I think there were 7 who decided together to do this) all abandoned them. I’m much happier for it; I’d rather the girls explore classes in a college format, if they want to take the test, they can no problem. This isn’t a rare thing in top schools.

[Anonymous]

STA has kept them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:STA has kept them.

No AP classes is ok if your school has 100% fantastic teachers. But no school — including Holton — has 100% fantastic teachers. The lack of AP removes the guardrail protecting against a bad teacher. With AP in place, a bad teacher still has to follow a scheduled curriculum. Without AP, a bad teacher can proceed completely unchecked by fear of accountability from AP test scores (or the need to get through a scheduled curriculum).

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t matter. The kids who would take Ap are not going to schools that would accept AP. So they just evaluate if you took the most rigorous course offered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:STA has kept them.

No AP classes is ok if your school has 100% fantastic teachers. But no school — including Holton — has 100% fantastic teachers. The lack of AP removes the guardrail protecting against a bad teacher. With AP in place, a bad teacher still has to follow a scheduled curriculum. Without AP, a bad teacher can proceed completely unchecked by fear of accountability from AP test scores (or the need to get through a scheduled curriculum).

Private schools are driven by college placement, almost nothing else. So a bad teacher would show up there, and be dealt with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yea all the fancy privates colluded a couple of years ago and agreed on this because the publics were kicking their butts on APs and the privates wanted to distinguish themselves from the publics to justify their exorbitant tuitions.

Now this is actually comical. If you believe this then you need to stick to public and be happy with the amount of time wasted on standardized tests, worksheets, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yea all the fancy privates colluded a couple of years ago and agreed on this because the publics were kicking their butts on APs and the privates wanted to distinguish themselves from the publics to justify their exorbitant tuitions.

Now this is actually comical. If you believe this then you need to stick to public and be happy with the amount of time wasted on standardized tests, worksheets, etc

Spoken like someone who has not had a child take an AP class in public school.

[Anonymous]

This has been discussed previously many times - worth searching for more info. Most (but not all) privates no longer offer AP-designated classes.

[Anonymous]

Be sure to check the list of Holton national merit semi-finalists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No APs is old news. The Big 5 or whatever you want to call them (I think there were 7 who decided together to do this) all abandoned them. I’m much happier for it; I’d rather the girls explore classes in a college format, if they want to take the test, they can no problem. This isn’t a rare thing in top schools.

You can still do all of this with an AP class.