<p>emilybee–our school let’s the kids choose. They aren’t caught up on the rankings, they would rather do what was best for the kids. It makes no sense to pay for a test that isn’t going to help you get college credit. We would be paying for 10 tests this spring if they took all of them…money out the door for most of them.</p>
<p>Some high schools throughout the US pay for the kids to take the AP exam if they are from a low-income family. Or the test fees are heavily subsidized.</p>
<p>“emilybee–our school let’s the kids choose. They aren’t caught up on the rankings, they would rather do what was best for the kids. It makes no sense to pay for a test that isn’t going to help you get college credit. We would be paying for 10 tests this spring if they took all of them…money out the door for most of them.”</p>
<p>Every school handles things differently and imo there is no good or bad way. In my district to even take an AP class a kid must have a teacher’s recommendation and they must take the AP exam. Other districts let anyone take an AP class and don’t require they take exams. </p>
<p>Also, from what I understand, the USNWR high school rankings uses the # of kids taking AP classes at a high school regardless if they take the exam or not, so schools which want to look good in the rankings often don’t have requirements such as teacher recommendations or AP test requirements. It’s all about the bodies.</p>
<p>The College Board is incredibly self serving. It irritates me that they assume that any student who is qualified for an AP exam but does not take one is “losing potential.” It is incredibly arrogant of them to assume that students who do not take AP courses are not taking rigorous coursework. Students have many other options besides AP courses to obtain rigorous coursework. Dual enrollment and IB classes are very rigorous.</p>
<p>Speaking of AP Frank, I think there was a book that had a character AP Harry and I think that was set in Maryland, also. They sure do like the AP brand of curriculum in Maryland!</p>
<p>“The College Board is incredibly self serving. It irritates me that they assume that any student who is qualified for an AP exam but does not take one is “losing potential.” It is incredibly arrogant of them to assume that students who do not take AP courses are not taking rigorous coursework. Students have many other options besides AP courses to obtain rigorous coursework. Dual enrollment and IB classes are very rigorous.” </p>
<p>I’m not a fan of AP courses at all. Imo, it’s one big money making scam.</p>
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<p>IB is pretty rare in the US (and seems to feature very high workload relative to what is taught), and dual enrollment is not universally available either (and just enrolling at the local college may result in scheduling issues).</p>
<p>Like the rest of US K-12 education, the availability of rigorous course work that challenges advanced students is hit or miss, whether it be AP, IB, college courses one can take as a high school student, or other rigorous/advanced/honors courses available in high school. Students often have to take what they can get at their local public and private high schools, rather than necessarily having a lot of choice.</p>
<p>The Maryland scores are bumped up by two counties in particular: Mongomery and Howard. Those counties are probably both in the top ten counties in the country for wealth, perhaps top 20. Because Maryland is so small, and the population is concentrated down that way, the scores really get a boost.</p>
<p>For those of us NOT in those counties, the AP scores are not so impressive. We have years where the number of kids in the entire county who passed a language AP can be counted on one person’s fingers. It’s an illusion.</p>
<p>Yep. MCPS’s press release noted that there were five MoCo high schools where at least 70% of the graduating seniors earned a 3 or better on at least one AP exam – and only one of those five is a magnet school. </p>
<p>This place is nuts.</p>
<p>[MCPS</a> Public Announcements](<a href=“http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/press/index.aspx?page=showrelease&id=3299]MCPS”>MCPS Public Announcements - Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD)</p>
<p>MD Mom–good point–</p>
<p>It really comes down to the individual schools and WHY they push AP (or not). Our school doesn’t even submit info to USNWR because they don’t want to get caught up in the rankings trap-THANKFULLY. They let the success of the kids shine through high test scores on the ACT/SAT and subsequent acceptances into top notch colleges. Then there are the immeasurables that make a school great like an outstanding administration which filters down to an outstanding faculty, etc. Add in top arts, sports and other activities and you just have an all around great place to go to school…</p>
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<p>How many of those students who passed the AP language tests were heritage speakers?</p>
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<p>Howard - #5
Montgomery - #10</p>
<p>Well we live in one of those abysmally low ranking states…here in Louisiana, we like to say “Thank goodness for Mississippi!” Hahaha My kids’ high school doesn’t offer many AP classes and depending on how many kids sign up for them, they might get cancelled - English Language, English Lit, Calculus AB, Chemistry and Biology. Last year they offered US history for the first time, but not this year. I think the only classes that anyone ever takes is English Language and Calculus AB. My dd is one of the smarter ones at her school, taking hardest classes including Calculus at the cc over the summer for fun, an overachiever, and she only got 3’s on the English and US History and she said that most kids do worse so the teachers don’t really do a great job preparing the kids for the tests. Our school does offer several DE classes some of which are very good like college world history due to an incredible teacher, and some useless. I don’t think most people here care or even know the difference as the kids head off to one of the state schools where they can get free tuition. Being a Yankee transplant who cares about education, I wish more were offered, but as long as my kids take the most challenging classes they can, it’s okay.</p>
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<p>Well, that doesn’t apply to Maine! I wonder why we are ranked so high!</p>
<p>Re: #33 and Louisiana</p>
<p>Seems like LSU is pretty generous with AP subject credit:
[LSU</a> Advanced Placement Exams](<a href=“http://www.lsu.edu/departments/admissions/StepstoAdmission/FreshmanAdmission/CreditExaminations/item16371.html]LSU”>http://www.lsu.edu/departments/admissions/StepstoAdmission/FreshmanAdmission/CreditExaminations/item16371.html)</p>
<p>Seems odd that students and high schools do not have more motivation in that direction when the main state university offers subject credit for AP scores.</p>
<p>If you graduate too fast, you might miss a couple of football seasons.</p>
<p>Interesting stat though–if you combine average ACT and SAT scores, MD ranks 37/38th or so depending on the year…high AP scores don’t off set that much. I was actually surprised by that ranking, I thought MD would be closer to the top 10 or in the top10.</p>
<p>SteveMA, where did you find that info? I’m curious because Maryland and Massachusetts generally have the highest scores in the country to qualify for NMSF, so that big a drop in ranking on the SAT is a little surprising. </p>
<p>Not that many folks in MD take the ACT, though it has gotten more popular in the past couple of years. The GCs started encouraging kids to take it if they were not happy with SAT scores. Most kids in the MoCo selective magnets just take the SAT because they tend to test well and decide they don’t need an alternative test.</p>
<p>ucb, I proctored AP exams (inc. FL) when the guys were in HS and there was a lot of encouragement for heritage speakers (esp. of Spanish) to take the AP. It was challenging for those kids who were recent immigrants, because while they might be fluent speakers via immersion at home, many did not learn the grammar in an academic environment.</p>
<p>CountingDown-google brings up about 9 million hits, take your pick :D. My guess is it’s the same thing as the AP’s–a couple schools account for the high numbers. I was looking at composite numbers-both ACT/SAT together because obviously MD has a higher percentage of SAT takers than ACT where some states it’s the opposite.</p>
<p>:/</p>
<p>Seems like I might want to take the AP Chinese exam. :S</p>