While we think about getting 4's and 5's on APs...

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>This school is looking for someone to break their streak of failures.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/30/AR2006043001110.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/30/AR2006043001110.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
For three straight years, Potomac High School has not had one student pass the test....</p>

<p>Last year, 59 of 60 tests at Potomac drew a score of 1, the lowest on the 5-point scale.</p>

<p>One student earned a 2 in English literature and composition, still shy of the magic 3 required for potential college credit...</p>

<p>No AP test at Potomac High has received a 3 or higher since one student accomplished the feat on one exam in 2002. In 2001, three tests received passing scores...

[/quote]
</p>

2

<p>That is shocking!</p>

3

<p>Well, it is PG.</p>

4

<p>Wow, that school needs some help...</p>

5

<p>If 10 CCers transfered then things would change drastically</p>

6

<p>I'm sorry if this sounds rude ,racist or anything but look at the teacher in the photo...he is way too young to be teaching AP and how much could a guy that doesn't look from the US know about US hist?</p>

7

<p>I agree, Icer!</p>

8

<p>logisticslord--not going to disagree with you on age, but...'looking' like you're from the US? That boggles my mind. You mean Native American? Because no one else is truly from the US.</p>

<p>Also...my school is 67% Asian-American, most of the students in AP classes are Asian-American, and our APUSH pass rate last year was approx. 94-96%. And it's not like only 5 or 6 people did it: we had 4 or 5 teachers for APUSH, with 3 or 4 full 30+ student classes. So 'looking' American has nothing to do with it.</p>

9

<p>well at my school history is the lowest grade for most of the nonamerican kiddos. they ace math and science no prob, but lit and hist esp not so much</p>

<p>and i couldnt really tell the guys nationality, but it wasnt caucasian</p>

10

<p>logisticslord, I disagree. First of all, I don't think that age is important in a teacher, even in an AP class. Sometimes, younger teachers are much more passionate about their teaching than older ones, and being old doesn't make you a good teacher. This Mr. Budano guy seems like he has a really good attitude towards his students, and he is trying to make people care more about history in general. Secondly, why do you think that he is not American. EVEN IF this made a difference, which I don't think it does, you can't judge whether he is from America by how he looks.</p>

11

<p>logisticslord, I've had younger teachers teach AP classes (my physics teacher started teaching AP at like 26).</p>

<p>(deleting the rest because it just repeats others)</p>

12

<p>i kind of feel like even i could teach a class like APUSH or something so that at least one person could pass the exam..</p>

<p>but of course if the school has no resources, you can't blame it for the bad results.</p>

13

<p>sorry makemehappy, I was writing my comment while you posted. I guess I had a few of the same thoughts.</p>

14

<p>lol our AP Chem teacher is 24</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
well at my school history is the lowest grade for most of the nonamerican kiddos. they ace math and science no prob, but lit and hist esp not so much</p>

<p>and i couldnt really tell the guys nationality, but it wasnt caucasian

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Er...but I mean, personally, I'm not caucasian--I'm first generation American, born to two Chinese parents. I took the AP English test last year, and I got a 5. It has nothing to do with nationality, but rather personal ability.</p>

16

<p>I dont know w/e but I think the youngest AP teacher at my school is like 38, 39 maybe?</p>

17

<p>I think that the age is completely irrelevant. Like ziggy said, our AP Chem teacher is 24, our AP Calc teacher is about 30, and our old AP World teacher about 27. We have a high rate of success for our small-sized school</p>

18

<p>HAHAHHA</p>

<p>"He cajoled students to enroll, raising the roster to more than 20 from an initial half-dozen. "'
And the fact that he has to tell them not to use the present or future and talk about themselves... They deserve their grades, the people in the class are obviously unready for a harder curriculum and/or underprepared by a 2nd year teacher. You don't need that much funding to teach a good class.</p>

<p>"What happens if someone passes... Are you going to throw a party?"
I wish we could have a party every time someone did well on a test.</p>

19

<p>im not sure what i think about age</p>

<p>my ap gov teacher last year was 24, and it was his first year teaching, i think several got some 3s (i didnt take it)</p>

<p>my ap lit teacher this year is prob 35, but it is also her first year teaching, i am not expecting many good scores, except for those that would have passed with a 5 at the beginning of the year because of their own writing/reading skills</p>

<p>my ap chem teacher is old, and has been teaching a while, but she sucks at teaching, so old is not necessarily better...</p>

20

<p>Ok for all of our AP classes:
Calc: 32-35
US: old, up for retirement
World: was 30, now they have a replacement who really isn't qualified so i dont really count her, id guess shes almost 50
Chem: 24
Physics: about 37
English: 56</p>

<p>the rest of our non-AP teachers are a good mix of ages...</p>