AP Testing Still a Thing at Sidwell/GDS/Maret/Potomac/St Albans/NCS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Until the tests are free and students receive equitable preparation for them, and are not run by a “non-profit” grossing millions of dollars/year, they won’t be comparable to European high school exit exams.

Tests and prep are free, in multiple languages. Advertised all over schools and from teachers and to parents at mtgs, via handouts and emails and phone calls.

Europe has serious (and free) merit tests every couple years of schooling and rigid tracking for access to A Levels and similar and certainly for university and majors. Uniforms help too, as does time tested curricula and tests. They do not do anywhere near the progressive experimental new math or reading or whatever approaches as here- here’s riven by common core standards or politics or a big lucrative curriculum business of ex teachers and admin selling to their former districts.

I’d be for testing too. Similar to India’s IIt and Japans Todai/kyodai, the Russian system too. No one else is watering down k-12 education and holding back its brightest like America.

Please talk to some friends who are teachers. Get informed about how things actually are.

Most of this is gibberish but I’ll bite. If you think teachers want even more standardized testing you’re completely wrong.

I’ll chime in to note that thee countries you name also have a common national set of standards(i.e. Common Core)

And every 6 years does the private school or big $2.5b county public school district run a lucrative RfP process for a new math or social studies or reading curricula? And then pick their buddies one with no textbooks, erroneous handouts and experimental BS methods and then use teachers who can’t do math or teach the new age methods?
No they don’t. Waste of time and money and is a disservice to students. They also do tracking early on. Some countries you test every four years for the level in the next school. The one size fits all pacing and materials like in most county schools here is not happening in other developed countries.

[Anonymous]

So there is a curricular aspect to AP (the class) and a standardized test component (sitting for AP test). This thread has been weaving a bit on discussing both aspects.

I been told that it's unlikely that colleges value the AP test results for admission because it's not a consistently applied standard and can't be used equitably owing to fees and uneven access. Depending on the college, students with 3/4/5 can get credit/ improved placement once enrolled. Not sure whether this is true in practice, as I also have heard of kids submitting high AP scores in the application process and of course successful tests would validate material mastery beyond the grade. Thoughts?

Second question is curricular strength. How much do colleges trust the rigor of a private school's proprietary "advanced" curriculum vs College Board's? Are the private schools simply leaning into the strength of their own brands here or is there some way these private schools are actually communicating the quality of the advanced courses? So far, from what I've heard and read, it seems to be the former. A list of "advanced" classes in a 1-2 page school profile doesn't seem that convincing vs a known (admittedly somewhat flawed) College Board standard. Can someone clarify?

[Anonymous]

My AP history and AP English teachers had me also submit writing samples of my work junior and senior year to my college and scholarships. Worked out very well and got back very positive feedback. The AP teachers were some of the best in the school. My Calc Bc teacher, still going for 30 years, had done computer programming her first 20 years of adult life. Excellent teacher and teaching.

Also got 800s on SAT II subject tests so more feedback.

Plus the 5s on the AP tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Until the tests are free and students receive equitable preparation for them, and are not run by a “non-profit” grossing millions of dollars/year, they won’t be comparable to European high school exit exams.

Tests and prep are free, in multiple languages. Advertised all over schools and from teachers and to parents at mtgs, via handouts and emails and phone calls.

Europe has serious (and free) merit tests every couple years of schooling and rigid tracking for access to A Levels and similar and certainly for university and majors. Uniforms help too, as does time tested curricula and tests. They do not do anywhere near the progressive experimental new math or reading or whatever approaches as here- here’s riven by common core standards or politics or a big lucrative curriculum business of ex teachers and admin selling to their former districts.

I’d be for testing too. Similar to India’s IIt and Japans Todai/kyodai, the Russian system too. No one else is watering down k-12 education and holding back its brightest like America.

Please talk to some friends who are teachers. Get informed about how things actually are.

Most of this is gibberish but I’ll bite. If you think teachers want even more standardized testing you’re completely wrong.

I’ll chime in to note that thee countries you name also have a common national set of standards(i.e. Common Core)

And every 6 years does the private school or big $2.5b county public school district run a lucrative RfP process for a new math or social studies or reading curricula? And then pick their buddies one with no textbooks, erroneous handouts and experimental BS methods and then use teachers who can’t do math or teach the new age methods?
No they don’t. Waste of time and money and is a disservice to students. They also do tracking early on. Some countries you test every four years for the level in the next school. The one size fits all pacing and materials like in most county schools here is not happening in other developed countries.

No they don’t change every year or two because they have a national set of standards. They have standardized testing built to these standards, making it unnecessary to have individual state and district test. They have teaching standards and acknowledge that teaching is a professional career for which people should be paid appropriately and be provided the appropriate time system setups to accomplish this goal as varying ages/stages.

This is exactly why colleges like AP and IB test and courses because its an easy way to judge a kid against their peers. That said, colleges don’t necessarily want to encourage early graduation so giving advance standing is more advantageous than giving credit. Both from a institutional finance perspective and the perspective of encouraging students to double major or do internships, or start grad school. All of which helps boost the profile of the school via its graduates.