Two-Thirds of AP Courses Pass Muster in College Board's First Audit

Parents Forum
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<p>Interestng article with an important link- <a href="https://apcourseaudit.epiconline.org/ledger/%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://apcourseaudit.epiconline.org/ledger/&lt;/a>
which allows a search of approved AP courses by High School</p>

<p>The</a> Chronicle of Higher Education</p>

<hr>

<p>Tuesday, November 6, 2007</p>

<p>Two-Thirds of AP Courses Pass Muster in College Board's First Audit, While Others Remain Under Review
By LIBBY SANDER </p>

<p>Two-thirds of college-level courses offered at secondary schools meet the academic requirements allowing them to be labeled "Advanced Placement" courses, and some of the remaining third, which are still under evaluation, are expected to earn that approval, the College Board announced on Monday after its first audit of such courses.</p>

<p>The review of 134,000 courses at 14,000 secondary schools worldwide was designed to determine whether high-school courses labeled as Advanced Placement, or AP, were meeting college-level standards— and to weed out those that were not.</p>

<p>The College Board administers 37 AP courses and examinations in two dozen subject areas. For the review, it hired some 800 college faculty members to evaluate syllabi that high schools submitted for the AP courses they offer.</p>

<p>Sixty-seven percent of the courses met the requirements and received immediate approval. Thirty-three percent did not. Teachers of those courses were given a chance to submit their syllabi again after making adjustments, and those courses are being evaluated anew.</p>

<p>As a result of the audit, "college admissions officials, students, parents, and educators can have continued confidence that the AP designation on students' transcripts is only allowed for syllabi that have been approved by college faculty," said Trevor Packer, vice president for the Advanced Placement program at the College Board.</p>

<p>In the 2006-7 academic year, 16,464 schools offered AP courses, according to College Board figures. Following the audit, there are now 14,383 schools offering such courses in the 2007-8 academic year.</p>

<p>The results of the audit, known as the AP Course Ledger, are available in a searchable format on the College Board's Web site.</p>

<p>An Admissions Tool</p>

<p>AP courses, are, in theory, designed to prepare high-school students to take an exam in a particular subject and, if they score high enough, earn them college credit. Some colleges also factor in a high-school student's participation in AP courses in admissions decisions. But for college admissions officers sifting through thousands of high-school transcripts, one of the many uncertainties is the authenticity of the "AP" label.</p>

<p>Though a successful score on an AP test would probably indicate that the course preceding it was rigorous, most college admissions officers, because of the timing of the AP exams, which often come at the end of a student's senior year, never see the student's actual AP test scores. As a result, they have no way of determining how challenging a particular AP course is.</p>

<p>The College Board's audit could help admissions officers determine the integrity of such courses, said David A. Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling.</p>

<p>"The benefit, at least the intended benefit," Mr. Hawkins said, is that admissions officers "would be able to rely on the transcript" and not have to call the school to determine the validity of the AP label. "It will be saving some time from the admissions process," he said, "though not an overwhelming amount."</p>

<p>The audit could also prove helpful for admissions officers when they receive applications from an unfamiliar high school where the strength of its curriculum is unknown, he said. </p>

<p>Making the Grade</p>

<p>The audit, which was first announced in 2004, was conducted in three stages, Mr. Packer said.</p>

<p>First, the College Board required schools to remove the AP label from courses that were not one of the subjects for which there are AP exams.</p>

<p>Next, teachers of AP courses were asked to perform a "self audit" and compare their courses with the academic criteria established by a group of college faculty members for each of the AP subjects. If the course did not meet those expectations, and was unlikely to do so within the next academic year, the College Board advised removing the AP label from the course.</p>

<p>More than 2,000 schools said they were unable to keep the AP label on some courses.</p>

<p>"That was a positive and powerful outcome of the audit," Mr. Packer said. "Right up front, a certain number of schools realized that they should not be indicating to colleges that they're offering college-level courses by labeling them Advanced Placement."</p>

<p>Finally, the faculty members evaluated syllabi for the 134,000 remaining courses and approved 67 percent of them. Though a final pass rate for all of the courses is not yet known, Mr. Packer estimated that at least 85 to 90 percent would ultimately be approved.</p>

<p>The audit will be updated annually as schools add to and revise the Advanced Placement courses they offer. And if a school wants to add any new AP subject areas, it will have to go through the audit again, Mr. Packer said.</p>

<hr>

<p>Copyright </p>

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<p>well not surpirsed at this at all, and its not because I "trust" the results</p>

<p>this is how the CB would want it to be, don't cha think?</p>

<p>if 90% will eventually be approved, well, in the education system with such a variety of schools, this is just more $$ for CB, the more tests they can give etc</p>

<p>and they want to look like all in fine and dandy in their monopoly</p>

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<p>Jeees cgm, you are such a cynic. It seems you always look for the dark side in everything. Very sad.</p>

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<p>


</p>

<p>Some AP teachers were initially surprised when their courses weren't approved on the first try in the audit. I subscribe to several of the AP teacher email lists for various subjects.</p>

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<p>Out of curiosity, just called the AP Audit at 1-877-274-3570, to ask some questions about the audit results. I was shocked to be told that only high school classes that pass the audit will be given college credit for those ap exam scores. I immediately asked about those students who self-study and just take the ap exam. Those students will no longer get college credit, even though the AP website still encourages students to take those exams w/o sitting in an AP class. Sounds like conflicting information....</p>

<p>Has anyone else asked any questions on how the audit affects ap designation on high school transcripts and impact on college applications and college credit? </p>

<p>Was also told that the colleges would "police" the high school transcripts for honestly using the AP designation by comparing the transcript to the AP Audit Ledger. Do college admissions offices have enough time and staff to police hs transcripts? Is it really their job anyway? </p>

<p>Would be curious what others find out.</p>

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<p>Further, I find it hard to believe that colleges would not give college credit to motivated students who self-studied for AP exams because they are home schooled or hs did not offer many APs.</p>

<p>I think the AP Audit people are overstepping their authority. What authority anyway....</p>

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<p>I'm confused. When I look up my high school on the CB audit, it only lists some of the courses they currently offer as AP. I excludes a bunch- Physics, EnvirSci, Latin, and others. Does this mean those courses really are <em>not</em> approved AP classes, or could it just be a mistake?</p>

<p>I recently saw the results of our high school's AP scores- some were abysmal. I'm realizing now that there was an incredible amount of grade inflation in some of the Humanities and Social Sciences- none (or grade "deflation") in the sciences. </p>

<p>My son kept saying all semester how he was going to flunk the AP Econ test. I couldn't understand why, because he did well on the rest of his tests. He said, "We never do anything in that class. The teacher doesn't teach; it's a joke, a complete waste of time." He did NO homework or studying, got an A, and a 3 on the AP test. Not that I cared, but last week I found out that only 20% of the students got 3's or above. :eek: And this is one of the APs that remain on the approved list on CB. What goes?</p>

<p>On the one hand, as a student and parent, easy A's are nice. On the other hand, I paid money for these classes so I certainly expect something (it's a private school)! I guess we were just paying for grades...</p>

<p>Hmmmff. Sorry for the vent. Back to the regularly scheduled program...</p>

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<p>"He said, "We never do anything in that class. The teacher doesn't teach; it's a joke, a complete waste of time." He did NO homework or studying, got an A, and a 3 on the AP test. Not that I cared, but last week I found out that only 20% of the students got 3's or above. "
That is exactly the reason the CB does the audits- to find the schools where AP classes are a "joke", and aren't taught to the standards the CB requires for them to be called AP courses.</p>

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<p>Just because there is a syllabus doesn't mean the teacher is following it, doing a good job, or giving appropriate tests. Sounds like a rather short sided way to ensure quality. And this brings up the point- how can quality be ensured? Even in universities courses are taught differently- some better, some worse- and student outcomes vary.
The CB needs a better way to measure outcomes. That would cost them $.</p>

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<p>I just looked up our private HS, that I know lots about. On the CB list, there are only two courses listed, both in Calculus. When I checked the school's web site, they list many more.
Any HS teachers here that might clarify?
And what TheMom writes, that your AP score is only vaild if you took the class?
I am confused.</p>

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<p>At our school they did the audit this past summer, and the offering of AP classes was completely up in the air till August when the resubmitted curriculum was approved. All passed bar one which had to be revised and resubmitted, however, it restricted AP Calculus to one teacher having the ability to teach all the levels of Calc and computer science. Your schools website might not be updated to the new changes. We also had to pay all AP fees in September or we couldn't take the courses, before kids were still allowed to stay in the class and not take the exam, not anymore.</p>

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<p>I encourage others to call the AP audit and ask why only some AP classes are listed for your specific HS. Ask what the audit is really doing to AP as we know it.</p>

<p>According to the person I talked to today, the AP Audit Ledger is being updated weekly as classes that did not pass the audit on the first submission, are being reviewed again after further clarifications/submissions. </p>

<p>What bothers me most is the comment from the person I spoke w/who indicated only Ledger listed classes are "true AP" and only Ledger listed classes will qualify for college credit based on AP exam scores. Sounds to me like the whole AP process is being changed.</p>

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<p>I think that's because there were so many schools saying they were offering AP classes, when in reality they were just relabelling classes as AP, in order to satisfy demand.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I was shocked to be told that only high school classes that pass the audit will be given college credit for those ap exam scores.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'm sure that Ivy League colleges will continue to treat AP scores from homeschoolers and self-studiers the way they treat AP scores now. Colleges decide this issue individually; College Board will not mandate how they treat such scores.</p>

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<p>Let's see if the Collegeboard takes the bold step of only accepting the $83 from students who have taken approved AP courses.</p>

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<p>Wow. The AP class that students love at our HS, with one of the best-loved teachers; the class where kids tend to score high on the exam -- is not listed. I'm floored.</p>

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<p>The College Board is committed as a matter of policy to make participation in AP tests open to students who learned the content, however they learned it. I don't expect that to change.</p>

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<p>As it shouldn't. I took 5 AP exams back in high school without taking the AP class (mostly because my school didn't offer those classes) and I got 5's on all of them. It would have been ridiculous if there were arbitrary restrictions preventing me from taking those exams.</p>

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<p>It really doesn't help too much though. All the ones at my school passed.
yet my AP French.class...
lmfao.
I don't take AP but our French department SUCKS. There is one teacher for all levels, and he is an amazing person and verrrrry intelligent, and can teach one-on-one but cannot teach in a class. and he's extremely unorganized. Anyway, so AP, honors, and regular are all in one period, since there aren't enough periods in the day for him to teach them all seperately along with the other French courses and there are still only 20ish people in the class. We have no textbook and no set curriculum. It's a very interesting class if you just want to learn spoken French, quirky little idioms, etc.
I take Honors (since barely anyone takes the AP exam even if they do take AP and for AP you have more homework and stuff so i don't see the pt), but what do I do in the class?
hahaha.
hmmmm. well it varies. I have conversations with my friends. draw pictures on the board. do my Stats/Math/Econ homework. text people. etc.
I've tried to just not do anything and pay attn.
The problem is there is no motivation. I could just study the night before and be fine on tests. If there is a day when I have no hw to do during French, I feel like I just wasted 45 minutes.</p>

<p>It's a great class if you're into the casual, oh lets-do-this-today kind of thing. which I am, sometimes. but when I have soooo many other demanding classes and I have time which I can use effectively to get more than 4 hours of sleep at night, I need structure to keep me focused</p>

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<p>neither of our govs passed (comparative and us) and none of our foreign language classes passed. world history did not pass. not a huge surprise. psych did pass though, which is a surprise considering that there have been only two fives in the past three years.</p>

<p>but i know for a fact that my school still offers the ap classes that did not pass, and calls them ap classes. is this "cheating", or something?</p>