Reply to 2016 Wash Post Challenge Index Rankings are Out

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]here is why this scoring is pretty much worthless

2. Why do you count only the number of tests given, and not how well the students do on the tests?

Some schools brag about their high passing rates on AP or IB, meaning the percentage of test-takers who scored 3, 4 or 5 on the 5-point AP exam or 4, 5, 6 or 7 on the 7-point IB exam. Passing scores make students eligible for credit at many colleges and universities.

I decided not to count passing rates in this way because I found that many high schools kept those rates artificially high by allowing only top students to take the courses. AP, IB and Cambridge are important because they give average students a chance to experience the trauma of heavy college reading lists and long, analytical college examinations. [b]Research has found that even low-performing students who got a 2 on an AP test did significantly better in college than similar students who did not take AP.[/b][/quote]

I actually think this methodology makes a ton of sense. And the bolded part explains why having kids at Ballou take APs makes all the sense in the world (I mean, apart from giving kids from all walks of life challenge and opportunity, which I think is reason enough). An AP class is more rigorous and thus is better prep not just for college but for life.[/quote]

No, this is nonsense. Having high expectations and providing rigorous classroom and extra-curricula activities has nothing to do with rigor. When you have students at CHEC who need intensive ESL support in order for them to have any hope at succeeding in college or a job it makes no sense sitting them in an AP class. When I have high school students who don't know how to use a period, capital letter or a comma that is the instruction they need. They need to be taught other strategies and skills that DCPS is not providing and sitting in a dumbed down AP class when they could be sitting in an enriching class to build them up and plug in the gaps is what is important. I don't understand this mentality that only AP is rigor. [/quote]

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