<p>There was a federal AP Challenge Grant under which many public schools funded their AP programs. One of the contingencies of the grant is that all students be permitted to enroll in AP classes. If your school is getting money from that grant they are in violation. If not, it’s wrong but if the AP programs aren’t receiving federal funding it isn’t illegal. </p>
<p>At our small rural public school , though each AP only is offered one period a day, kids are permitted to sign up regardless but they ultimately self cull from the class by not doing the summer work or doing it so poorly that they start out with a low score and drop.</p>
<p>hyeonjlee: Neither. It’s a public charter high school that admits by lottery of all students who apply. About 45 percent of the students are URMs, probably about that amount are first generation college applicants. 100 percent of the students go on to 4 year colleges. The school is grounded in the idea that <em>all</em> students can succeed at a rigorous college prep curriculum. The school doesn’t separate out English language learners or those with learning disabilities. Right now, the entire school is away on the annual all school retreat/camping trip, which builds community and helps ensure that every student and all teachers are united in their focus on the core school values. The school culture stresses “no student left behind”, in the sense that it’s the responsibility of every individual to help each other attain mastery of the coursework and skills being taught. This also means that there are no divisions of students into cliques or social groups based on things like race, ethnicity or achievement. They’re uhmmm, very prone to group hugs. </p>
<p>Almost all of the teachers have undergrad and grad degrees from Ivies and/or Stanford. It’s a great place. :-)</p>
<p>At my HS, about 15 AP courses are offered, most of which are available only to seniors. The theory behind this is that ‘underclassmen are not capable of handling the workload and/or doing college-level work’. As far as I can tell though, offerings are limited in order to boost the pass rates and numbers - my school is one of those that is obsessed with the numbers game and disregards many other factors. They are quick to tell you that 100% of students passed an exam and 95% scored 5’s, but they don’t mention that only 25 out of 500 students in the grade were permitted to take the class. </p>
<p>The worst part about my school’s offerings is that they are totally imbalanced though. Of the 15 courses that are offered, about 10 are math or science courses. For those like me, who prefer to study social sciences or humanities, there are very limited options.</p>
<p>Your hs school is not typical of all public high schools. It may be more typical of NJ public high schools–I would not know. Our high school is public and diverse and encourages everyone to take APs, supporting the weaker students with AVID. It does not have real pre-requisites, either, so that my S was able to take AP-Chem in 9th grade and other APs in 10th grade.
It is important to learn the policies of individual schools!</p>
<p>Mom: I don’t have the exact name of the court case (because I don’t know the name of the student(s))…and there were two cases in our district: one with regard to honors math and one with regard to AP.</p>
<p>and, yes, NJ Monthly ranking is linked to property values and bragging rights (but apparently, colleges do acknowledge it, as well, I am told)</p>
<p>I thank everyone for sharing such wonderful insight. You guys really are helping this clueless parent!!!</p>
<p>I guess the lesson learned in all this is, high schools differ from each other wildly with regard to APs (honor too I assume), and admission officers in selective colleges need to take that into consideration when comparing one kid with only 4 AP in a school where only 7% of the kids were allowed to take APs that are offered only in junior/senior years (in S2’s HS) with another kid with 10 APs in a school with open door policy with AP classes. </p>
<p>Now, on our part, and this is the important part, we need to make sure that when the HS profile is sent by the GCs to the colleges, it is clearly indicated so that kids like my S2 are not penalized in comparison with other kids.</p>
<p>As for taking actions to change school policies, that’s pointless for me: S2 is already a Junior and there is nothing to be gained by declaring a war on school, and even if they change the policy, it’s too late for him. I have a very warm rapport with a couple of school authorities I worked with for S2’s inclusion into the AP courses that he was originally denied, and I want to maintain it that day. Call me selfish. </p>
<p>Again, thanks everybody: your advice is priceless.</p>