<p>Our public school district is currently reviewing the way in which students are admitted into AP classes. Right now each AP class has some sort of criteria involving grades in previous courses as well as teacher recs. There are some people in the district who believe that AP classes should be open to any student who wishes to take the class. I was wondering if those of you with experience in public school districts could give me an idea how your school makes the decision allowing a student to enroll in an AP class. Also, our district requires students to sit for the AP exam at the conclusion of the year. Does your district insist that the exam be taken?</p>
<p>I go to a public school, and here even though we technically have requirements, as long as you can get the teacher to sign you in, you can take the class. Like technically to continue to the next level of foreign language you need a 78% average + 78% in 3/4 areas (reading, listening, writing, speaking). However, I know lots of people who didn't meet one of these requirements and had no trouble getting in. Same for classes like AP Physics. Technically you need a B+ average in algebra 2, but I didn't have this (B) and I would have easily been able to take it and I know lots of others with Bs who took it. A problem is if it's something like ap physics your science teacher signs for it, who has no knowledge of your math grades.</p>
<p>It's pretty strict at our school, to prevent the "dumbing down" of classes. Usually it's "exemplary performance" in the prerequsites, combined with certain scores on PSAT's, scores on midterms and finals, etc. My children were very, very grateful for this, because our school allows parents to "override" other decisions. Hence students who should have been in college prep were allowed into Honors classes, and my kids say they never really felt challenged because the classes were slowed down, discussion was not as good as it could have been, etc. Once they got into restricted APs, everything was great.</p>
<p>I realize many people will strongly disagree, and I respect that.</p>
<p>Our district DOES require that one sit for the exam, as well they should. I cannot think of a single reason NOT to require it.</p>
<p>Celebrian posted after I did. Letting people with 78s into APs is a good reason to require the exam!</p>
<p>Our district DOES require that one sit for the exam, as well they should. I cannot think of a single reason NOT to require it.</p>
<p>my daughter is taking an AP euro class in 10th gd.
She has a learning disability that interferes with her performance on tests. even though she is taking 6 heavy academic classes and is getting As on classwork and homework, it is not unusual for her to get Fs on tests. She qualifies for a 504 plan that allows accomodations on tests, including the freedom to not take the AP exams.
I don't care if she takes the AP test or not, she isn't taking the class to get credit to waive courses in college.
She is taking the class because I want her to take 4 years of English/History/Math/Foreign lang/Science.
If she doesnt' take the AP history class, the only history class available is only one semester- not all year.</p>
<p>nedad,
Of course you have touched upon the very issue that our district is confronting. Will allowing any student who would like to enroll in an AP class have the effect of slowing down the learning in the class versus letting every student who would like the opportunity to try a college level class do so before attending college.</p>
<p>Well I should point out I go to a fairly typical suburbian public school- not a magnet, not a charter, not a good enough to be private school. Most people who sign up for classes they're not fit for end up getting low grades or dropping anyways. :D</p>
<p>AP classes are open to all at my school in an effort to lead the state in APIndex (which we do). AP exam is not required at the end of the year. I don't think the classes are "dumbed down" by open admission and it's near impossible to restrict classes in a public school.</p>
<p>our district (a top NY public) also allows anyone to enroll in the AP classes and they do require that the students take the exam. I do see fairly appropriate self-selection and also kids dropping back to the regular course if they are unable to do the work.</p>
<p>Our district lets anyone in that wants in. Students must take either the practice exam or the regular exam. They don't require the exam because of the fee.</p>
<p>The pace is what the pace is; students sink or swim on their own.</p>
<p>It seems to work.</p>
<p>In my school district you have to take the pre-reqs to take the AP Class. For Example For AP Biology You have to take Biology Before. For History you can choose Academic or AP history. For English you can only take them in 12th Grade. </p>
<p>I would take the test because one of the main goals is to take the AP test.</p>
<p>Second dmd77. Open-enrollment, standards remain high. My students do an excellent job at meeting the challenge, only failures are those who "check out". Teaching only those who are academically gifted and had high grades in a pre-req course would be a piece of cake. I take greater satisfaction teaching a heterogenous group and experiencing their tremendous growth and pride as they take on the challenge of an AP course. No one is going to be following them around in college to tell them they can't take a course because they had a C in a pre-req and aren't capable of pushing themselves.</p>
<p>Maize,
That's great to hear! Are your students required to take the AP Exam and, if so, has it been your experience that they are as "successful" on the exam as they have been in your class? I guess by successful I am thinking about scores of 3 and higher.</p>
<p>EK, you do give a good reason for taking the course without the exam!</p>
<p>I don't think the classes are "dumbed down" by open admission and it's near impossible to restrict classes in a public school.</p>
<p>All the public schools in our area restrict the classes. Each case is different. We know from the bitter experience of the "dumbed down" so-called Honors classes, whose parents overrode the school's decision, that it is indeed possible to make a class much slower than it need be.</p>
<p>Teaching only those who are academically gifted and had high grades in a pre-req course would be a piece of cake. I take greater satisfaction teaching a heterogenous group and experiencing their tremendous growth and pride as they take on the challenge of an AP course.</p>
<p>While I salute you, not every teacher is that good! I am thankful that heterogeneity in our district ends after elementary school.</p>
<p>Here's a link to a thread back in May about this. There are other links there to older threads. </p>
<p>Over30,
Thanks very much for these links. I am still curious as to what's going on in other high schools this year since we have an ever-changing group of contributors to this site.</p>
<p>well our school doesn't have restrictions to taking an AP except for just getting the signature of the teacher(quite easy). However the curriculum isn't dumbed down. If a person can't handle it, the class doesn't accomodate for the student, and i believe that it is unnecessary to. If a student has trouble, he/she should be the one staying after and getting tutoring. my school sort of follows my philosophy. If u fail, u fail. U don't do anything about it, no benefit will be given to u as a slower class. So i quite like my AP classes. THere is a little bit of slowing down as in we have too many discussions and the class is little bit behind schedule but that is helpful and that is the life of an AP class.
Anyways, i wouldn't mind having a test but even without strict prereqs u can still have a strong AP class. I think the every class has like 80% passing or higher.
Also about the prereqs like biology before AP bio. I think some of them r ridiculously strict. My school wasn't too strict and I took AP chem without taking chem and got a 5. However, at some schools i heard rn't that fortunate. Restricting even smart students who can do the load from enrolling in a AP class because they didn't meet the requirements is just pure bureaucracy to me.</p>
<p>nedad: One of the worst practices in public schools (and some privates I've worked in) is that the best teachers only teach the top kids, and the newbies get all the lower end and have to "wait their turn". It's no wonder that there is a tremendous exodus from the profession during the first 5 years. Fortunately, I have the pleasure of working in a department with a philosophy that all teachers will teach a range of non-honors and honors/AP courses and collaborate. Our students across the board are exposed to good teachers with many, many years of experience mixed with the energetic newbies with tons of great ideas that us oldsters learn from.</p>
<p>momof3sons: First of all, I teach in a middle-class suburban school, but there are other schools in my district with more diverse populations seeing similar results. Our district expects all of our students to take the exam and the school strongly supports it, particularly by providing scholarships in case of financial hardship. I only have 2 or 3 each year who don't (out of about 65), and they are the ones who have chosen to fail the course in the first place. Our school surpasses the national pass rate (3,4,5) on almost all of the exams, and in fact, tied with another school for the highest pass rate in the world on a history exam a few years ago (schools of 1000+). Something to ponder, given that in many schools the kids are not required to take the exams, as well as only the top students take the exams.</p>