<p>I’m the AP coordinator at our small private school in Maryland - and yes - this will be quite a challenge. But I am 100% certain that the AP testing dates will not be changed and will go on in May as planned. AP is huge in Maryland - we have the highest percentage in the nation of seniors passing at least 1 AP exam. (New York came in 2nd and Virginia was 3rd). Our plan will most likely call for more study sessions after school for those who can participate and the elimination of some field trips and other special days that would disrupt the normal schedule.</p>
<p>I agree with earlier posters that it is difficult to administer the APs on a nationwide basis when every school district has different starting and ending dates throughout the year. I also watched a fascinating video on AP last week - think it was from the NY Times - discussing the pressure of AP and college admissions in general. The quote that really stuck with me is that high school has become preparation for college admissions, not for college itself, but for college admissions. Frightening thought. That being said, I love the AP program, and feel our students benefit from it tremendously.</p>
<p>No need to make accomodations. Wisconsin passed a law that schools couldn’t start until September a few years back, but they said nothing about Labor Day so schools start as soon on/after the 1st as they can. Some Indiana schools have at least 2 extra weeks in August. There is plenty of time to cover AP material. Students can easily make up the 5 hours lost per class over the next 2 plus months. No sympathy here- our blue collar city school district has many students taking AP exams successfully a month before the end of the school year. Not as many as AP intense areas, but our students certainly achieve a lot more for the time spent than those areas- meaning the students who take an AP course and exam probably aren’t receiving as intense preparation as in some areas.</p>
<p>My guess is that if kids in Virginia and Maryland used their time well during the blizzard they probably did just fine – there’s a lot of review to do for the AP exams, and starting early on it is actually a good idea. Practice exams, working through wrong answers to see what you did wrong, reviewing material you might not have been too solid on earlier in the year… I think my kid would have appreciated a week away from the day-to-day school stuff that would have let her focus on that, particularly with the cancellation of all of the after school activities.</p>
<p>While on snow days kids presumably have access to all resources other than the teacher. Honestly Junior year when my D was overloaded w/ AP’s, ECs and stress I think that snow days would have been a blessing. I understand the thinking behind wishing for a rescheduling but seriously don’t believe 4 snow days or even 5 or 6 will make a perceptable difference one way or another. Kids who are driven to succeed on those tests won’t let a short hiatus from the classroom impact their drive.</p>
<p>I agree with FallGirl that schools need to start in August. We live in Virginia where there is the “Kings Dominion” law, school can’t start before Labor Day because KD needs them to work. This needs to be changed. The AP teachers have to race through the material the first month of school to catch them up to the other kids in the country that have been back at school for weeks. After they take the test in May, they still have several weeks of class time that is spent on filler work. Luckily, my son goes to a school that received a grant for AP test improvement. They attend an all day Saturday review for each subject. Some of the teachers at this review session are ones that are chosen to grade the exams, so can offer good insight to the kids on test taking and material review. There is an incentive for the kids to do well besides getting college credit, they receive $100/test for a score of 3 or more.
The kids here have missed at least a week due to snow so far. Right now the plan is to make up 2 days by taking away the Monday after spring break they originally had off and taking 2 scheduled 1/2 days and turning them into full days. Several years ago when we missed too much time, they added an hour on to the school day for several weeks.<br>
They really cannot reschedule AP exams because of one region’s difficulties with snow. I’m sure that every year that is region with some kind of crisis and yet the date does not change, as well it shouldn’t.</p>
<p>We’re talking about AP tests. AP. These are the brightest and most motivated kids in the school. If they can’t manage a little rushed learning for the sake of catching up on material then they don’t belong in AP in the first place.</p>
<p>The snow days are pretty much to be expected, we have them every year which is why they are built into the calendar. Our school will not make up AP missed time with extra classes. The state testing is more irksome to me as it’s done in April when most AP teachers are really trying to finish up the curriculum. We’ve been told that they are going to miss at least 8 days for that. “A little rushed learning” is a bit of an understatement.</p>
<p>kathie, you confuse me. Are you saying your school district anticipates snow days but doesn’t have a plan for instruction disrupted by state testing that’s scheduled months in advance?</p>
<p>Our school district postponed AP exams last year due to H1N1. We live in Texas, and our district was shut down for the first week or so of May. While the “swine break” didn’t occur during the days when AP exams were scheduled, it was close enough that they rescheduled for the end of May. I was glad.</p>
<p>Our schools start after Labor Day and we usually have a whole week off in Feb. and another week off for Easter/Passover. And they missed a bunch of school in January for Regents testing. Two snow make up days are built into the schedule, but they are tacked on to Memorial Day weekend. We get shortchanged every year.</p>
<p>DougBetsy, Yes, that’s what I’m saying. The change in dates for state-wide testing was talked about last year and finalized before this school year. Parents, teachers and administrators pointed out how difficult this would be, especially for Junior students who also have a state mandated senior project due at the same time, but it didn’t seem to matter. The snow days are built in to the end of the school year but those days can be very iffy for instruction. </p>
<p>I actually don’t know how the teachers can condense their teaching any more then they do. The required reading to get through thousands of years of European history or English Literature is already daunting. I guess they can still require the reading and skip the discussion?</p>
<p>Ditto with English Literature. Most schools assume that kids have books in their arsenal from prior years of English. It doesn’t all have to be covered in the official “AP” class.</p>
<p>Some well-respected posters on the AP English list say that you need
1 novel, 1 play, 1 pre-1900 work, 1 post-1900 work, 1 comedy, 1 tragedy, 2 poets (one old, one new), and 2 essayists (one old, one new)</p>
<p>I have long thought that the school systems starting in August (and some start in early August) have an unfair advantage for AP courses. Of particular concern is the lab courses – how are schools supposed to make up lab days? It was already hard enough to fit those labs into the schedule when a school starts after Labor Day.</p>
<p>I am quite surprised that the Northeast and other late-starting school systems haven’t forced a change in AP test scheduling somehow, similar to how CA forced a change in the SAT.</p>
<p>Our teacher’s union votes on when to start classes – before or after Labor Day. And they vote AFTER every time. The HS teachers tend to lean towards Before Labor Day for APs, but are easily outnumbered by the Elementary teachers, (at least that’s what the union rep tells me).</p>
<p>This is a bit OT, but snow consequence related: </p>
<p>Many ACT testing centers were closed on February 6 due to snow. The makeup test date was offered this past Saturday, February 13. According to the chatter in the ACT section of CC, the Feb. 13 exam was the exact same test offered the week before. Of course, the Feb 6th exam had been thoroughly dissected and analyzed by several of the posters in the intervening week, so all the answers were more or less available here and probably elsewhere. One poster’s early caution to avoid talking about the test for this very reason had been dismissed because the students assumed, wrongly, that ACT would provide a different test for the make-up dates. I’m not sure how it affects the scores for student’s testing on either date.</p>
<p>Sorry for the diversion…back to the AP discussion :)</p>