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Why students fail AP tests
Wasington Post
Jay Mathews
My column last week about how to reveal the secrets of which teacher is getting the best Advanced Placement results received many more comments than I expected. This was, I thought, a topic only for insiders, AP obsessives like me. I forgot, once again, that college-level exams have become a rite of passage for at least a third of American high schoolers, with that proportion increasing every year.
The column provided links to the several local school districts that have posted the subject-by-subject AP results for each school. I was shocked that any were doing it, since five years ago when I asked about this, few school officials had given it much thought. Since the AP tests are written and graded by outside experts, a teacher who does not challenge his students in class is likely to have lots of low scores on that school report, which until now hardly anyone had a chance to see.
Many thought I glossed over the effects of opening up AP courses to anyone who wants to get a useful taste of college trauma, sort of like camping in the back yard before your dad takes you to the Sierras. Enough mediocre students have enrolled in AP, and a similar program International Baccalaureate, to lower average scores even in the classes of the best teachers.
Read more HERE
13 comments:
(This responds to Anon @ 10:53 under "Should we inflate AP grades?")
The real question is whether the elected Board of Education members and Mr. Richmond consider the low scores a problem.
As long as the system receives positive strokes on the widely distributed and much-lauded Challenge Index -- and virtually no such scrutiny of the scores -- I think the relationship between the scores, the instruction, the instructor, and/or the "pack 'em in" policy is of relatively little interest to it.
I certainly agree with what you've said.
Jay Matthews knows that what he provides is hogwash. In fact, Richmond, Cunningham, and the rest of the crew know what they have going is hogwash.
When more than 2/3 of the "graduates" of our beloved CCPS that enroll at CSM have to take remedial English, they are well aware.
Have you seen the scores of "basic" and "proficient" in math, science, and reading from the schools? That tells you that anyone with a decent education and kids in the schools is frightened to death about their child's academic welfare and their safety.
Richmond et al have never considered low scores a problem. They have the power to hide the results from the public and more spin up their sleeves than the wind in today's blizzard. The AP program and the school system in general will NEVER improve until you, the BOE, does a clean sweep in the administrative offices. And I fear that will never happen until the public does a 6/7 clean sweep in the voting booths.
Since when have colleges assigned homework over the summer AND year long classes for 3 credits. Puhleeze! College level? College pace? Not be any stretch of the imagination!
Students fail because CCPS administrators and Board members have nursed too long at the Challenge Index's soporific teat. Then, in a rank-induced euphoria they make lame brained decisions such as the pack 'em in policy, addressed by LegalBeaglette, and inappropriate sequencing.
Please explain to me which well-paid professional thought it was a good idea to limit a CCPS 10th grader's AP options to AP US History? The last time they had a US history class was two years prior in middle school! Certainly, they can't think a good and recent foundation is unnecessary - particularly when the AP US History exam is notoriously known to have one of the highest failure rates nationwide. Same goes for AP World History - no exposure to world history since middle school, a mere 4+ year lapse. Our illustrious leaders pack middle school prepared students into college level classes and then hide or obfuscate the test results. They on the other hand, toast and merrymake when meaningless ranks are published. It really makes me wonder whether we are more concerned with system status than student achievement.
CCPS 10th graders just finished an LSN (Government) class. WHY isn't AP Government a more appropriate sequence and why isn't it even offered as an option? Do the current decisionmakers have any history background or do they think civics = US history? Common sense tell me a 10 grader might be in a better position to pass an AP Government exam after successfully passing a high school honors government class immediately followed by an AP Government class.
A student's mind can be compared to a computer - data in, data out; trash in, trash out. When most of our best and brightest students can't hit the lowest passing score for an entry-level college course - a course that has been expanded from 4 months to 10+ months of instruction - then I say it is a problem with what is going in; not what is coming out. In other words, it is not the students who own the failure.
The failure lies squarely on the decisionmakers in administration and ultimately the Board members who refuse to clean house. At some point in time your administrators will need to wean themselves from the Challenge Index teat and actually provide our AP students and teachers with at least a fighting chance.
What a joke.
This "David Browder" from Lackey is telling Matthews to have his facts straight.
LOL! The hellacious AP scores that this guy from Lackey turns out is certainly an indication as to what goes on over there.
These scores county-wide are pitiful.
Why are we keeping Richmond in the driver's seat over there?
What the heck? Challenge index or no challenge index, this school system is rotting.
Look at the scores at North Point? And this is a technically savy school to prepare students for engineering?
While I think the so-called "Challenge Index" is a load, it is interesting that at North Point where the school essentially self selects half of it's student population the scores are not as high as at La Plata and McDonough which are restricted to their own zone. Something to think about before we open another type of "magnet" school.
Average AP scores for the 2008-2009 school year: La Plata- 2.66, North Point- 2.59, McDonough-2.19. I am not sure that it is accurate to compare the number of STI students to North Point's AP scores, as many of the students enrolled in an STI program are not able to take many of the AP classes due to the nature of the STI programs. The STI programs typically require a student to dedicate three out of their six classes to the STI program during their last two years of high school. Because of this sequence, students are limited in the number of elective classes (including AP classes) that they are able to take, or they must take AP classes (especially science classes) earlier than their peers at other high schools or concurrently with other science and AP classes. Not an excuse, just an observation.
Well, North Point came in 4th on the SAT math scores. What a lousy performance for this school.
AP Biology-2.13
AP Calc-1.87
AP Chemistry-1.56
AP Physics B-2.10
How is this preparing any of these college bound seniors for university level coursework?
These are scores that show that most or all students wasted their time and the taxpayer money, receiving piss-poor instruction at a school that is touted as "high tech", "STI programs", etc.
The only thing that those fools at Radio Station road can be proud of is that they have the gonads to share despicable scores and their mastered ability to flush taxpayer money down the toilet.
I hope that the voters get some people on the BOE that will throw the bums out and not renew their contracts.
What a waste of money.
North Point has a much higher percent of students taking SAT exams than other Charles County High Schools. I feel confident that a Monte Carlo statistical simulation would show a significant (negative) relationship between numbers of tests takers and scores. Kudos to North Point for encouraging ALL students to attempt the college board exams, rather than focusing on only their top achievers.
What a joke.
This "David Browder" from Lackey is telling Matthews to have his facts straight.
How intelligent are you? You can't even get your facts straight. His name is Donald, not David.
Get off your high horse and get a clue.
Re: His name is Donald, not David.
...
His name is Mathews, not Matthews. ;)
(Not that such nitnoid stuff has anything to do with addressing the AP concerns...)
Be cheerful, everyone! It's SPRING!
Thank you for correcting my misspellings of the names of the "expert socialist" and "highly qualified" teacher.
And as I said,
Well, North Point came in 4th on the SAT math scores. What a lousy performance for this school.
AP Biology-2.13
AP Calc-1.87
AP Chemistry-1.56
AP Physics B-2.10
How is this preparing any of these college bound seniors for university level coursework?
These are scores that show that most or all students wasted their time and the taxpayer money, receiving piss-poor instruction at a school that is touted as "high tech", "STI programs", etc.
The only thing that those fools at Radio Station road can be proud of is that they have the gonads to share despicable scores and their mastered ability to flush taxpayer money down the toilet.
I hope that the voters get some people on the BOE that will throw the bums out and not renew their contracts.
What a waste of money.
Now that we have that out of the way, what do you propose for the solution of the massive amount of Chucky students having to take remedial classes at CSM, and the teachers that as shielded from the public and the parents of their children's classes?
Why don't we pay these people by their teaching abilities in the classroom, just as professionals are paid for their skill in the private sector?
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