GDS just dropped AP testing

[Anonymous]

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?!?

[Anonymous]

Can't students apply to take the exams at other schools, like they do for SATs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not having to host the tests does save them time and effort and money. Maybe they will fold the savings into FA.

Yeah, can rent more space out in the weekends.
Private school teachers don’t want to proxy AP tests Saturday morning once a year on their specialty subject matter anyhow!

wasn't this testing done during the school week? pretty sure it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not having to host the tests does save them time and effort and money. Maybe they will fold the savings into FA.

Yeah, can rent more space out in the weekends.
Private school teachers don’t want to proxy AP tests Saturday morning once a year on their specialty subject matter anyhow!

wasn't this testing done during the school week? pretty sure it was.

Yes. AP tests are M-F.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

Ha. It’s all of our space. Sounds like someone needs a glass of whine. Good luck to your kids. You sound horrible.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

We are considering schools and researching. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not having to host the tests does save them time and effort and money. Maybe they will fold the savings into FA.

Yeah, can rent more space out in the weekends.
Private school teachers don’t want to proxy AP tests Saturday morning once a year on their specialty subject matter anyhow!

AP tests aren't given on Saturdays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha. It’s all of our space. Sounds like someone needs a glass of whine. Good luck to your kids. You sound horrible.

You sound lost. This isn’t the forum for you/the unwashed masses.

No one who is truly happy with their choices would post on a thread (they have no connection to) to brag. Sad.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.