<p>@2016BarnardMom, I think you need to place the blame for that where it belongs, in the teacher’s laps. My kids had only 8 school days in August, yet our AP teachers manage to cover all the material. There are summer assignments in some classes, but nothing like what you described. And mentally, the kids are still on summer break during those August days anyhow.</p>
<p>Our kids start the second week of August and the AP classes have summer homework that is due BEFORE they even get back to school. They have to email it to their teachers. Some of the classes have more work than others. I was really upset at how much APUSH summer homework DS had one year. The summer is short enough without summer homework.</p>
<p>The year my daughter took APUSH, one of the essay questions on the AP test was about the Vietnam War. They hadn’t gotten to it. They only got to the Korean War</p>
<p>this is what my calif relatives complain about. My SIL, a high school AP teacher in Calif, hates that there is 5-6 weeks of school after the AP exams. That’s just too much.</p>
<p>the thing is…if everyone was on a similar schedule (starting within days of Labor Day…plus or minus), then AP exams could be given at the end of May. Then finals/graduation could be in June.</p>
<p>I think, right now, AP exams are the first 2 weeks of May so that the “very early start” schools can administer those exams and still have time to do final exams afterwards. </p>
<p>Thankfully, my kids’ school did not have final exams for AP classes. :)</p>
<p>*but I personally liked the few weeks post-AP exams. In AP Spanish, they did cultural projects (art, music, plays, etc), Calc worked on preparing for the next stage of Calc, AP English did our huge term paper, etc. I wouldn’t have liked to do these things while doing AP exam studying. *</p>
<p>that’s all good and fine if most of the class is getting at least a 3 on the AP exams…preferably 4’s and 5’s.</p>
<p>As for the big English essay…why can’t that be assigned much earlier? Why compete with exam study time at all? My kids’ “big essays” were due early in the 3rd quarter. After all, the teacher needs time to thoroughly read/grade them…that can’t well be done if due at the end of 4th quarter.</p>
<p>Interesting that College Board has been able to affect the start of the school year.</p>
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<p>Sounds like a problem that is peculiar to your school district. This is not the norm around “here.”</p>
<p>Interesting that College Board has been able to affect the start of the school year.</p>
<p>I think it’s the other way around. the schools that have “early starts” (early Aug) are forcing CB to give the AP tests in the first 2 weeks of May.</p>
<p>Lime…It is a problem for schools that end around the 18th of June. They have a month post-APs with little to do.</p>
<p>I took apush under our after labor day schedule and we mostly certainly got to the Vietnam War. Don’t remember summer hw and did just fine on the exam.</p>
<p>Perhaps it was a teacher issue. I do know that they end up not doing much the last month in the AP classes. In AP Psych, they watched “psych” related movies- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Beautiful Mind, Sybil, etc.</p>
<p>I’d forgotten after school sports. Cross country began in late August (before the mandatory September start in Wisconsin, that is another story) and by the time the season finished awards were started at dusk. Many time the state meet had delays of the schedule to let temps warm up to melt the frost.</p>
<p>Wisconsin decided schools (K-college publics) should start in September, not late August, years ago so the tourist season would have its workers. When I was a kid we started after Labor Day but things must have changed in the decades between childhood and parenthood(different district also). Schools could grandfather their starting dates because of existing contracts- some of the tourist areas were the last to change. Also, they do not wait until after Labor Day, losing staff to HS and colleges.</p>
<p>AP testing was a month before school ended for son. No summer requirements. His HS had good participation and pass rates. Son disliked his senior year AP chemistry AP teacher’s teaching and got a C his final semester, after getting a 5 on the AP test. His also gifted younger cousin in another state started school before the middle of August, finishing by Memorial Day- he was a studier, got an A in his AP Chemistry class but only a 3 on the AP exam. An example of teaching, not timing, making a huge difference.</p>
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<p>This assumes that the only purpose of the class is to teach to the exam. I agree that the exam is very important (to insure the rigor of the course stays high), but there is more to learning than just taking an exam. </p>
<p>If you look at your kid’s AP text books, you will see that many of them have post AP topics that are appropriate for the students. If parents are ok with their kids doing “nothing” after the exams, then I guess they will continue to get nothing. I would complain.</p>
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<p>As long as I can remember, the AP exams were always given in May. I was unable to find information on if they were ever given in June.</p>
<p>From what I can tell (just opinion), as the popularity of AP classes went up and colleges began to “expect” them on transcripts, students and parents demanded good results. In the early days, only the best and the brightest ever took an AP exam so a May test date was not an issue. As more and more students began to participate in AP courses (and schools were judged by their passing rates), schools reacted by moving up the date that school began. This insured the maximum amount of time to prepare. </p>
<p>I don’t really know why the trend to starting earlier in August started in the first place. I guess I could understand if schools were trying to go more towards a year round schedule, but with an early May release date that doesn’t sem to be the case.</p>
<p>Are there any school administrators, board members, etc on CC who can give us more insight to this trend?</p>
<p>Our district got rid of the buses as well. It’s a small enough community that it’s bikeable, walkable or car pool-able and that’s what we are doing. HS kids end up driving sooner I think (the student lot at the high school is packed.) HS starts at 7:55 a.m. and elementary and middle schools start at around 8:30 or so. HS gets out at 3 p.m.</p>
<p>Limewire…</p>
<p>I agree…they’ve always been in the first two weeks of May. That’s when they’ve had to be given since some states graduate their seniors in May.</p>
<p>^but do you think other schools moved their start dates up to better prepare for AP testing?</p>
<p>My high school started at 7:25 and got out at 2-2:05. Most people were groggy in first hour, but we appreciated the extra afternoon homework and extracurricular time. In fact, I believe that was why the schedule was arranged the way it was. We had no sports teams, but we did have an internship requirement, and ending early let kids do their internships while businesses and non-profits were still open. Of course, our schedule was very different from those of many other schools in the area, so during Quiz Bowl season, our team ended up sitting around quite a bit and waiting for our competition to wrap up their classes for the day. </p>
<p>I, too, love the fact that Michigan schools (except those with waivers) can’t start before Labor Day. It never caused a problem for our AP courses–when I took APUSH, we had no summer homework and got through the early 1990s. I earned a 5 on the test; no one in the class got lower than a 3. It all depends on the teacher.</p>
<p>High school started at 7:25 and ended at 2:05. It sucked pretty hard but I was always glad I got out so early. I had to catch my bus at 6:30 am because school was 20 minutes away and we were always there by 7.</p>
<p>^but do you think other schools moved their start dates up to better prepare for AP testing?</p>
<p>I can’t speak for other states, but I know that my state’s start time correlated with crops. It’s just a bonus that the students have more time to prepare for AP exams. </p>
<p>That said, other states with later start times seem too reluctant to change. </p>
<p>But, the truth is…now HS schedules are dictated by sports. One school or regular sized district can’t just unilaterally have a very unique schedule without sports schedules being affected.</p>
<p>High school started at 7:25 and ended at 2:05</p>
<p>that seems too early for an end time, but I know that’s how early publics do/can end. Privates often end later. My kids’ started at 7:50 and ended at 3:15 pm.</p>
<p>Our high school starts at 7:40 and gets out at 2:30. As others have said, if they got out later, they’d miss the beginning sports times. I do think it’s crazy that sports dictate the academic schedule.</p>