We have noticed the pressure to put students in Advanced Placement classes, whether or not they are prepared or interested. My first thought was that the College Board was making big money and encouraging this unsound policy.
Laura Chapman sees other reasons:
Speaking of AP courses, I think part of the problem is not just the College Board but the stack ratings of high schools published every year by U.S. News and World Report.
Their metrics focus on students’ scores on standardized tests, graduation rates, but also the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses taken, and passed.
The awards for gold, silver, and bronze status differ for public and charter schools. There is killer “tie breaker” for schools forwarded by the College Board and US News Rankings. The CRI value is a composite score conjured from scores on statewide tests, graduation rates and the like.
Begin quote: This year (2017) U.S. News and the College Board collaboratively developed a new tiebreaker to avoid ties in the numerical rankings when schools had the same unrounded CRI values, which was the case for the top 25 ranked schools in the 2017 Best High Schools rankings.
This new tiebreaker was the percentage of 12th-graders in the 2014-2015 academic year who took AP exams and the percentage who passed those exams in at least four of the seven AP content areas. The tiebreaker measures the breadth of students who took and passed AP exams across multiple disciplines.
The AP content areas measured were English, Math & Computer Science, Sciences, World Languages & Culture, History and Social Sciences, Arts and AP Capstone.
Students who took and passed exams in two or three areas were given partial credit – 50 percent and 75 percent, respectively.
Those who took and passed AP exams in four of the seven AP content areas earned full credit.
The percentage of students taking exams in multiple areas was weighted 25 percent and the percentage of students passing exams in multiple areas was weighted 75 percent to derive the final tiebreaker score.
High schools where the largest proportion of 12th-grade students in the 2014-2015 academic year took and passed AP tests in at least four AP content areas scored highest in the tiebreaker.
The new tiebreaker was used to break ties among 297 schools – 61 gold medal schools and 236 silver medal schools. The College Board computed the tiebreaker. End Quote.
Of course for a richer understanding about the history of the idea that high school must be college, you can read any number of books, or some legacy reports from the American Diploma Project from which the Common Core evolved, to the Gates Foundation Database with some key works, among them “college and career ready,” early college, and College Board,
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings
22 comments
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s just dreadful. I’m in MD (Howard Co). The kids are forced into taking AP if they don’t want to sit in school and do nothing all day. Every kid in HS is now either Honors or AP. There is nothing in between. And let me just say that “Honors” might sound like a really hefty title, but very little is being taught to have that name. The kids know they aren’t “honors” but it makes their parents happy to have the bumper sticker. The AP kids are stressed out and unhappy, but it makes their parents happy and gives them bragging rights. EVERY kid in Howard County, MD is above average (sarcasm!!). When will the parents wake up and realize that this all smoke and mirrors?
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SO much like closing down a neighborhood school and then reopening it as an “elite” school with a fancy name like “The Presidential College Scholarship Science Academy” — and thus pretending that the problems connected to poverty and cultural disconnect have been addressed and solved.
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Forsaking our children all for a higher standing in a publication which has little merit beyond bragging rights.
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Nearly all of the high schools in Chicago, including charter have something they call “AP” classes. One look at the syllabi in some of these classes and you know the claim of advanced placement is a farce; to say nothing of the number of students who take and “pass” the exams. Our children, again, are the losers: they think, therefore they are. What are they thinking about their performances? I believe the U of I conducted a study about AP in Chicago high schools, but the data on the children sitting for and “passing” the exams were missing.
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A parent here. My student’s AP Teacher straight up told me that the sole purpose of AP classes is to maximize the possibility of passing the standardized test. I asked in which class would a child be exposed to a better presentation of the subject: an AP Class or a regular honors class (basically the regular curriculum but with more work and self-selected students who want an “honors” class). Without hesitation she said “honors” One more expression of Campbell’s law.
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Thank you, Ray. You are right: “One more expression of Campbell’s law.”
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At the high school I teach in the admin has eliminated high quality honors courses. This forces students to choose between an AP class or a low level class filled with students who don’t care so much about their schoolwork. My son graduated in June 2017 from this school. He took 6 AP courses and passed all of the exams. What I got was a bill for over $500. By the way, only 2 of those AP courses helped him in college. He would have learned more in the honors courses ( and enjoyed it more, too). The AP classes were overwhelmingly just test-prep. Now I am reluctant to vote for the school budget because I don’t believe the school has the students’ best interests in mind. They are just trying to juke the stats for admin bonuses. This is my local public school, which I have always actively supported. No more. Choice is looking appealing right about now…
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Math-man, it’s an epidemic. Your “choice” might just be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
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I know, and it breaks my heart to see it all go down. But, frying pan or fire, either way we get burned.
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I’m jumping ship with my rising HS child. Private, religious, all boy’s school. No CC, no PARCC, no AP for all (but available for some), open free periods for tutoring, school librarians & nurse on staff daily, related arts emphasized, social studies and science emphasized. I know it won’t be Utopia and we will have to pay dearly for it, but I can’t have my son sit and rot in the public HS system (usually in the top 10 per US News). My daughter will finish her public school disaster and we will hope for the best with her (most of the changes have been at her grade level and she has been” grandfathered in” as an experiment). We are making a CHOICE….but we will pay for that choice.
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It was suggested that I take AP courses. I said, “NO!” Didn’t bother telling my parents. They would have agreed with me.
So glad I just was a regular student.
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Agreed, Diane and Laura. Another angle: AP courses do not lower the cost of higher education enough to make it possible to attend a university without going into debt. Pushing students to be “College and Career Ready” without making college tuition free is just pushing them to take out loans from banks.
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I like that kids can get a feel for “X Subject 101” in college but wish it was limited to just seniors (maybe juniors) and no more than 1 or 2 classes. I only let my son take 2 this year and 2 next year. As a result, his is not highly ranked in his school and his college choices may suffer.
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LT –
Many high schools use a weighted formula for AP classes so that an A in an AP class is given a 5, rather than a 4 in a non-AP class. Most colleges, knowing this, unweight that score. Encourage your son, too, to apply to one of the nearly 1000 colleges which do not require SAT’s or ACT’s as part of the admission process. In my experience, these schools are less interested in numbers about a student than in the student himself.
https://www.fairtest.org/university/optional
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Your post hits all of the right notes. I am retiring from LAUSD after 32 years as an English teacher (most them spent teaching at least one AP class). My current class has 40 students enrolled, 10-15 of whom should never have taken the class. I was informed that 5 more students would be enrolled during Spring semester, because there was a “mistake” in their schedules and they needed to transfer in from the other AP class. (I should point out that my antiquated bungalow was originally built to house 25 desks). When I pushed back on the increased enrollment, I was told, half-jokingly, to “quit your whining.” I’m doing them one better-I’m quitting my job 5 months early. I’m tired of fighting the “quantity over quality” battle.
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Also, students who take AP classes use it to build foundational skills since they still have to take the college class anyway. It helps level the playing field in college. And stop kvetching. If education wants governement to create AP level tests more power to you. That’s not going to happen. Best case is to make AP free. Wait it is for low income students – school districts pick up the tab.
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In a lot of areas AP tests are “free” for the parents. What the parents don’t realize is that the school district pays College Board a fee and it is in the best interest of the district to get their money’s worth….hence the pushing for AP for all. It’s not cheap. AP is owned by College Board (SAT) and they are in the business of making money….even if the product that they put on the market is garbage!
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When students lack the requisite skills or interest for truly challenging and engaging AP/college-level work, there is no “leveling” effect. It’s a disservice to them because it creates the false impression that somehow they are now ready to meet the requirements of a university curriculum. Moreover, it’s a huge disservice to the kids who are prepared for (even have a passion for) and consciously sign up for a course with depth and rigorous requirements. Every school I’ve worked in has been in a low, socioeconomic area where my students have been the first in their families to attend college. I’ve seen kids meet and overcome tremendous obstacles in their desire to learn, change, and grow. Offering these kids a watered-down AP course, or stocking it with additional students who don’t want to be there is an insult to them and their drive and dedication to succeed.
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AP is never free. If the family doesn’t pay for it, the district does. It is a cash cow for the College Board.
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I’ve said — repeatedly — on this blog that AP is far more hype (and money-maker for the College Board) than it is educationally helpful.
I won’t repeat the lengthy recitation of the research here, but simply note that the research does not support College Board claims for AP. Or for the PSAT or SAT. Basically, they’re all bogus.
So, if that’s the case, then why do administrators and superintendents and school boards – and more than a few teachers – continue to push this nonsense?
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As an AP teacher, I’ve always focused more on the needs of the students than the demands of the College Board or my District. When recruiting, I emphasized that my class was, first and foremost, a gathering place where people who were passionate about literature could plumb the depths of fiction and nonfiction, exchange ideas, and stay excited about learning. The tests were never the primary focus, although we did a certain percentage of test prep in the Spring, enabling my kids to consistently score at or above the national average [ass rate. Given the demographics of our school community, the majority of my kids were thrilled to learn that they could go off to college feeling more confident in their academic skills, and, quite frankly, that they were competitive with the students from wealthier communities. As I work my last few days as a public school teacher, I believe more than ever that nothing (including class titles) matters nearly as much as the dynamic in the classroom. It’s still about people, and the right chemistry can produce amazing results. My district spends millions of dollars–and rightly so– on low-achieving, ESL, and kids with special needs. So what is so wrong with having classes where kids with passion, motivation, and aptitude get to spread their intellectual and emotional wings and celebrate the fruits of their hard work?
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I thought that high schools were rated on the number the AP tests taken only. The number passed was never published.
I am of the opinion that age appropriate and school level appropriate courses should be taken. In other words I have written against having AP courses at all. I am also against dual enrollment. This actually lessens the education of the kids.
Since most courses K-14 are survey courses then taking one US history course in college is not the same course as taught in high school. So, for a college degree you have only one year of US history instead of two years. Also, Algebra II should not be College Algebra. For the jobs a high school can get then knowing what a Function is is needed. Wait until college to take College Algebra. Algebra II, when I took it in the 1970s, was mostly the Cartesian (Rectangular) Coordinate System and its applications. It was not College Algebra and factoring polynomials and composite functions.
What is the rush to get kids into college? What is the rush to get kids in Pre-K? What is the rush to get kids into Junior High School and call it Middle School?
I read about some kid that was denied access to a Pre-school because he or she failed their entrance test. What?
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Diane, I put up a long post on this topic, but I think it might have gotten snared in moderation. I didn’t save the post, but I want to be sure to share Tom Ultican’s recent take, from October 12, on the history of AP for every single child and the damage it’s doing:
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