<p>Here is an article about AP scores in California. Good news despite our truly serious budget issues and low per capita funding:</p>
<p>Patient:</p>
<p>Another bit of good news out of CA. Today's NYT had a nice article about a Stanford program that enables students to tutor its support staff. It featured a janitor from Latin America. Nice program. It follows a longer and less uplifting article about Larry Summers's style.</p>
<p>Actually, reading the details in the CA story today left me less than impressed. More hispanics are taking APs, but they are mostly taking AP Spanish. Blacks are still not taking APs in any significant number. And 18% getting a 3 or better is above the pitiful national average, but it's still just 18%. That we consider this good news says a lot.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"AP has become the standard for excellence in education for America," said Gaston Caperton, president of the nonprofit College Board, which owns the AP and SAT exams.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well that's just scary.</p>
<p>And they (the College Board) are non-profit? Well where does all that money go for all those SAT and AP tests, fees to send reports, late fees, phone fees etc....</p>
<p>non profit just means they put the profits back in the business instead of to stockholders
So if they spend the profits on salaries and on studies of how to get more schools into the AP curriculum they still can be nonprofit</p>
<p>ah I see. Well they must certainly be well funded!</p>
<p>For comparison sake, I took a look at AP results at some good private schools. It looks like on average, 85% get above a 3 at most with 70% or so getting a 5. Contrast that with the 18% we Californians are supposed to be happy about.</p>
<p>In washington 11.6% passed an AP exam up from 7.6% in 2000
But wait it gets better!</p>
<p>We rank 42nd in public school funding! and have some of the biggest class sizes in the nation !
Theres more!
In my district Seattle, 40 elementary schools that have serve very low income students will have their Title 1 ( federal money for low income) and LAP ( state money for low performing schools) cut
We have one of the most difficult state tests ( the WASL) but have among largest class size and least funding. ( watch me pull a rabbit out of the hat!)
:(</p>
<p>I am pleased to see that the number of students taking and scoring at least a three has increased and that Latino students are finally getting credit for their knowledge of Spanish. I prefer to teach in a school that has low incomed families from many cultures (70% of my students are bi or multi-lingual) and I am pleased to see someone getting credit for an achievement in any language.</p>
<p>Some snobs will say, well of course they do well in Spanish, they speak it at home. That is like saying they shouldn't count the caluculus class for the children of scientists or mathematicians. An accomplishment is an accomplishment and I say "good job."</p>
<p>As for the private schools doing better....that is another discussion, one that involves the privileges of the rich and the misguided resistance to paying more to fund public schools. I wonder who has produced more leaders public schools or private schools and I don't mean by percentage, just total numbers. I think a great school system is one that can take the kid from the bottom and raise him toward the top, not one that gleans off the top, dumps money on them and then says look at the great job we did, keeping them near the top.</p>
<p>Congratulations to every kid who took the test and a second cheer for those who got a good grade!</p>
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<blockquote> <p>That is like saying they shouldn't count the caluculus class for the children of scientists or mathematicians.<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Hmmm...not really. I'm a scientist and calculus is not "spoken" in our house in the same sense that Spanish is spoken in many Latino homes. My daughter learned calculus from her teacher in high school school, not from me. Latino kids often grow up speaking Spanish from the time they are toddlers. </p>
<p>I don't begrudge the success Hispanic kids enjoy in AP Spanish classes. In fact I think it's great. But it's a poor analogy to equate that with AP calculus success by the children of scientists.</p>
<p>Oh Texas was patting itself on the back today for an increase in AP exams taken. They must have done a variation on this article in each state due to the 50th anniversary. The Washington Post ran an article on that.</p>
<p>I've never fully understood why some do not recognize the hard work that many Latinos put into studying Spanish. I have never heard the same criticism applied to a native English speaker who majors in English or who takes the AP English exam for that matter. As any native English speaker who majors in English will attest, studying a language is more than learning how to converse around the dinner table. In addition to syntax and grammar, it involves an in depth analysis of literature and the development of writing skills. These, unfortunately, are seldom learned from casual conversation with your mama or abuelita.</p>
<p>Kirmum:</p>
<p>the pass rates don't make any sense. If they were that bad, CB would be out of business bcos no one would pay for a 80+% failure rate.</p>
<p>If you look at CB's 2004 national statistics, for example, the average score for all tests is a 2.9. Thus, nearly 50% pass all tests, on average. If you further dig into the individual tests, CB's website indicates that only 40% don't pass Calc AB (i.e., 60% pass); 70% pass Euro Hist, for Physics B it's 58% pass; US Hist = 58%; , Bio- 61%; Eng Lit - 65%; just to name a few popular tests. </p>
<p>btw: "coming soon" are AP Chinese, Japanese, and Italian.</p>
<p>"Some snobs will say, well of course they do well in Spanish, they speak it at home. That is like saying they shouldn't count the caluculus class for the children of scientists or mathematicians."</p>
<p>Um, no... as others have pointed out, it's not quite like that. What it <em>is</em> like, is saying that everyone who speaks English will score a 5 on the AP English exams. And we all know how poorly that matches with reality.</p>
<p>This was a sore issue in our HS, with much of class Hispanic. Because classroom participation counted so much in Spanish class, the non-Hispanics rarely earned an A. For years, tried to group classes so Hispanics could focus on grammar, reading, but never worked. I'm sure AP tests focus on these traits, so possible to earn better score on AP exam than in class.
i think beginning classes in chinese and japanese should also separate kids who are native from others.</p>
<p>sorry for my earlier post on stats -- I misinterpreted the article. </p>
<p>As Emily Litella used to say on SNL, "Never mind."</p>
<p>The foreign language tests (including SATII) are designed for non-native speakers.</p>
<p>Marite: thanks for pointing out the NYT article on the Stanford tutoring program.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>The foreign language tests (including SATII) are designed for non-native speakers.<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Exactly. This is why the AP Spanish test is not equivalent to the AP English test. The SATII foreign language tests are said to be designed to test about a 3rd grade level of proficiency. Why would it be a proud accomplishment for a high school senior to prove that you can speak your native language at a 3rd grade level?</p>
<p>Spanish language and literature, or any other language, can be and is studied at a very high level of sophistication in some settings, mostly by Spanish majors in college and grad school. But high school foreign language classes is NOT one of those settings.</p>
<p>coureur, it sounds as f you're referring to the SAT IIs in Spanish. I just reviewed the curriculum, readings, and expected proficiencies for AP Spanish Literature at the College Board site and note their research showing in 1997 that the reading list and discussions were evaluated by universities as roughly equivalent to "a third-year college introduction to Hispanic Literature" (see <a href="http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/repository/ap04_spanish_cd_0506_4327.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/repository/ap04_spanish_cd_0506_4327.pdf</a>).</p>
<p>Doesn't sound like "3rd grade" to me. While high school foreign language class may not be "one of those settings" where the literature is studied in more sophistication, a high school <em>AP Spanish Literature</em> class should be EXACTLY that.</p>
<p>And just as growing up in an English-speaking household does not automatically render a student capable of analyzing great works of English literature at a sophisticated level, neither does growing up in a Spanish-speaking household do the same for Spanish literature. (It might make it easier to read the words in the first place, but not to speak and write incisively about them.)</p>
<p>I guess the point that encouraged me was California's rank nationally, which I believe the article said was 5th. I imagine that within California, there is wild variance among public school districts and with the private schools. But it is impossible to correlate private school and public school results. Private schools, given their selectivity, can't really fairly be compared to public schools, which educate anyone who comes to them. Private schools wouldn't even admit the majority of kids that the public schools educate, so praising the private schools for a high percentage rate makes no sense to me.</p>