John White has done some heavy-duty boasting since he became State Superintendent of Louisiana in 2012. It seems to be a characteristic of the reformer class that they project dramatic improvement on their watch. Michelle Rhee promised the moon when she was chancellor in DC, and as G.F. Brandenburg has shown on his blog, achieved about 1.5% of what she promised.
As Gary Rubinstein shows in this post, John White made bold claims about AP courses. It is true that participation rates went up but passing rates went down. White had an explanation for that: higher participation caused a drop in pass rates.
But what White could not explain was that only 4.1% of all juniors and seniors in Louisiana earned a 3 or higher on an AP exam. That is next to last in the nation, just above Mississippi.
Really, people should not boast ever, but it is surely a bad idea to boast before the results are in.
Interesting that the southern states where schools starts in August have an extra month of instruction prior to the AP tests. The tests are given in May to accommodate these states because they close earlier than the northern states . With one month less instruction students in NJ and NY do a much better job on these tests.
These are good numbers to look at, because they really can’t be rigged. You can artificially inflate the numbers of students taking the tests, but you can’t cheat on cut scores and passing rates…at least with the AP exams.
I have a vague feeling of discomfort at this site, which I consider a national treasure when it comes to examining the realities of American education………with stories which criticize the over-emphasis on standardized testing, and have an awareness of just how much more they measure levels of poverty than anything else…..but are willing to use them to drive home a point like this regarding Louisiana. I do the same thing in other places where I post, and I can find ways of justifying having it both ways…..but I wonder if anyone else ever has any thoughts along these lines. Feel free to clobber me……
Joe, you won’t get clobbered by that comment. I think you’d find a fair amount of agreement. Personally, I find it interesting when reformers don’t succeed in the currency that they chosen: test scores.
I think large scale standardized tests aren’t as wholly determinant as reformers claim, it’s interesting when they fail in their metric of choice.
If you have ever been an AP grader, you know of entire folders that are O’s. Putting kids in AP courses does not mean that kids can product thoughtful essays…..Because our Education Secretary has no meaningful experience in Education, all he can do is sell product for ETS and Pearson and call it improving “civil rights.”
Hey, people boast even after the results are in.
A few years ago, I was at a meeting at Tweed with lots of industry and ed folk. There was a principal of a high profile “miracle” public school (not charter). He boasted that with high expectations, you can achieve anything. In four years, he took his school from nothing to having kids pass Honors AP calculus.
He was asked “you mean passing the BC Calc exam?” and he boldly replied “Yes!”
Sounds like a miracle. Taking kids in behind grade level and having them get 3,4 or 5 on the AP.
I looked up the school’s stats that evening (thanks NYC data mine) – indeed there were 200 exams taken during the year he cited – probably 2 AP exams for each senior but the data didn’t give the breakdown nor which exams.
The results — only 2 out of the 200 exams were scored 3 or higher.
How you can set kids up to fail this way is disgusting and cruel.
Don’t worry though, the principal was promoted to run an even higher profile school 😦
It’s the old “fake it till you make it ” mentality. Peter’s principal-Management 101. Why isn’t the union posting FULL page ads in the NYT about corporate deform? L.A.?? Why aren’t parents standing at the end of every school parent pick up with OPT out posters?
The link to the article didn’t work for me. White has tied the # of kids passing AP exams to school grades. All he does is push AP tests over dual enrollment. Why? What does he get by pushing all these exams as well as mandatory ACT tests for juniors (also tied to school performance grades)?
If you look at most middle class high schools in the city and suburbs of NY as well as the specialized high schools within NYC, one will see many students entering college with approximately 15 to 18 college credits because of their scores on AP exams. Both of my sons, who, by the way, went to NYC public high schools, one specialized and the other not, both entered college with about 20 college credits. Setting up an AP course in an inner city high school means nothing if the student cannot pass the course or test. As someone who tutors students in AP European and United States History, the ability to pass such courses begins in elementary school. One needs extensive social studies background knowledge to have a hope of passing a college level course in high school. Unfortunately, common core goes in the opposite direction. Its concentration on ELA and math to the detriment of other subjects makes it impossible to really gain the skills to pass an AP level course.