<p>NY Times article gives an update on the AP audit going on this year - to protect the CB brand, the College Board is now setting out to create a list of classes authorized to be labeled AP.The list is expected to be released in November. The CB's sweeping review of hs syllabuses for AP classes and its "AP" stamp of approval aims to devise and enforce a strict standard of quality control when it comes to the AP designation for both coursework and AP exams. Colleges will use the list to "safely" determine how to assess hs transcripts and award credit to students who take AP exams. "When you look at transcripts, what you see is often not what you get,” said William Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s dean of admissions." </p>
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When Bruce Poch, the dean of admissions at Pomona College, sees a high school transcript listing courses in AP Philosophy or AP Middle Eastern History, he knows something is wrong. There is no such thing. Neither subject is among the 37 in the College Board’s Advanced Placement program.</p>
<p>“Schools just slap AP on courses to tag them as high-level, even when there’s no Advanced Placement exam in the subject,” Mr. Poch said. “It was getting to be like Kleenex or Xerox.”...
<p>Northeastmom, who states that there is no guarantee of rigor? I would think that any high school worth its salt that offers, or intends to offer AP classes, took the CB-AP audit extremely seriously. Participation in the audit does imply that starting from the academic year 2007-8 high schools will have to be more engaged in the whole process to "police" or oversee what actually goes on in the classroom. Over the past two years, we have been told that the CB provided teachers with detailed information about how to evaluate and submit curricular and resource requirements, and how to draw up detailed course plans (that have to include complete book lists and units covered - including assignments, lab work, testing schedules, sample tests etc.). It is even understood that classes might be observed by visiting experts designated by the College Board. The NYT article did not go into any specific detail as to why some auditors did not agree on certain details and requirements needed to give some schools the go ahead to use the "AP" label. It may be that there were discrepancies in the class plans that needed to be addressed. Even so, I do think the audit does serve parents, students, and colleges - to the extent that there is a standard, on-going process of quality control and a serious pledge for high schools to deliver the goods. Obviously, college administrators such as Bruce Poch, recognize the need for such a concerted effort. High school principals have to request annual renewal from the CB to continue to use the AP label and must submit new documentation when teachers change or new courses are added. For many schools there is a lot at stake - and that includes DOE funding and participation in AP incentive programs. These days the AP also faces serious competition as highly reputable and academically strong schools move away from the AP as the gold standard. All the more need to protect and defend the AP designation. Of course, there is always one important indicator of rigor and high school performance that cannot be ignored- how many students enrolled in AP courses actually take the AP exam and how well they perform on it. Now that all the audit paperwork is being processed I should think we all will want to see just what impact that master list of authorized schools and AP classes will have on college admissions and how hs transcripts are evaluated to give college credit.</p>
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As APs have spread, it has become clear that the name is no guarantee of rigor; an AP course at a wealthy suburban high school may be far more ambitious than one at a poor rural school. And in many struggling high schools, nearly all the students in Advanced Placement classes fail the exam. </p>
<p>The College Board concedes that the audit will do nothing to change that. “By no means do we anticipate that this will result in higher exam scores,” Mr. Packer said. “
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<p>The article does say that there is no guarentee of rigor.</p>
<p>There seems to be different things going.
The audit will look at whether the courses that are labeled AP actually align with the guidelines in the Acorn books. As has been known for a long time, that is not the case in many schools. And as the article suggests, all sorts of courses are labeled APs that do not even figure in the 30+ list of courses developed by the CB.
The audit alone will not result in higher scores because it will not look into teacher quality or criteria for admission into AP courses or for taking the exam.</p>
<p>A rose is a rose, is a rose - perhaps, but in this case one with any other name will not smell as sweet. At this point, it is fairly obvious to assert that the AP designation and even the CB audit can't, and isn't even meant, to control student performance. By the same token, the CB is telling us that there will be a greater effort made to oversee what constitutes an AP course and how it ought to be administered. The CB is certainly not going to be sitting in on each individual classroom across the nation and throughout the world once all the paperwork is over and done with - the title of the NY Times piece hits that nail squarely on the head - because the CB is "trying" to police the use of the AP label. But when read in context, it is equally clear that if the audit process is able to standardize the use of the AP designation this is a positive step in the right direction and a step that aims to remedy the lack of rigor that exists right now. </p>
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In my view, its misleading to call something AP if its not a College Board AP. And even in legitimate College Board AP courses, its hard to know what was taught until one sees the exam results. If students are getting watered-down AP courses, this audit will help bring them up to the standard.
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<p>I do think that the high schools that are involved in the audit process must and will take a proactive role to make sure that students, parents, and college administrators get the real deal - and that is a quality education that meets a certain standard (and by that I do not mean to infer that the CB has any lock or monopoly on what defines a quality education - it is just one path to take). The onus is also on State Departments of Education to bring up to date, institute and carry out the norms that are already in place to regulate Advanced Placement programs. Quality control implies a concerted effort to create and carry out programs aimed to improve the course offerings available to high school students and make that AP logo stand for increased rigor - granted:</p>
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The audit allows us to know one thing only, and that is, does the AP teacher know what elements are expected in a college-level course. Its not proof that students are prepared for college-level work. But, he said, the audit allows the board to give teachers more guidance and practice materials, and to pinpoint areas where APs do not mirror college courses.
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<p>It is equally obvious that the CB is not going to give anyone, anywhere a blanket guarantee that the audit will lead to increased student performance or higher scores on AP exams - but the audit will set a standard for high schools and teachers and hopefully make it easier - or "safer" for college administrators to decipher hs transcripts, and to figure out how to compare AP classes from one hs to another. If it works, that is, by itself, an important step toward greater educational rigor. As Marite so aptly points out there are different aspects that affect academic performance (and quality) that fall beyond the scope of the audit.</p>
<p>A friend of mine in Texas has freshmen and sophomore classes that are listed as "Pre-AP," eg, "Pre-AP Biology" instead of Biology I or Honors Biology. What do you guys think of that?</p>
<p>Mary, I think those names are very descriptive & help students plan their curriculum. It's letting the kids know that they need to plan ahead to earn admittance into the AP classes. I think it will keep the standard high if successful completion of pre-AP courses are pre-requisites for AP.</p>
<p>It is a fact that it will be always be difficult to evaluate AP courses at different high schools, but this is a good faith effort to try to put some "teeth" into AP labels. Other factors on a school profile will also provide information to colleges about the rigor and challenge of the courses and the high school.</p>
<p>Re guaruntee of rigor: At my school, there is a select group of excellent AP teachers, and then many others whose classes really aren't up to par. They chose those excellent teachers to participate in the audit. Just throwing that out there.</p>
<p>Mary - Both "AP" and "pre-AP" are just CB labels used for its AP program. If a high school describes courses as Pre-AP (a pre-advanced placement course) then it is a course that is part of a CB-ETS driven curriculum that can be found on middle school, junior high school, and high school levels. These are courses designed by the CB to specifically prepare students so that they can go on to take advanced placement coursework. The designation of "Advanced placement course" describes high school level preparatory courses - which implies that the enrolled students are judged to be academically ready to sit for an AP exam - a test that the CB tells us incorporates all topics specified by the College Board and the Educational Testing Service on its standard syllabus for a given subject area. Again, all of these courses have to be approved by the College Board if they carry the AP designation. Of course, the CB and AP program have no dearth of critics and when it comes to questions of rigor, content, and packaged curricula etc, the CB's NCLB efforts and Springboard program certainly gets its fair share of criticism.</p>