"AP Classes and You"

Are AP Classes really necessary for getting into a good college?  As more students apply to colleges and universities, the competition for slots intensifies.  Students are increasingly pressured to find ways to make themselves stand out from the crowd.  Gone are the days when good SAT scores, solid grades, and a record of diverse interests and community service would guarantee a student a place at a good school.  These days, qualified juniors and seniors also enroll in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and take AP exams at their high schools.

Successful completion of AP courses, combined with solid scores, grades, and so forth, help students in their quest for admission to college.  Taking AP classes and exams also benefit students in several ways once they’ve entered college.  First, doing well in an AP course (earning a grade of A or B) means you’re already working at the level of a freshman college course; you’re not only prepared to do college work, you’re already doing it.  Second, AP courses positively impact your cumulative high school GPA. This is very impressive to colleges, as is the fact that you’re taking challenging courses.  Third, succeeding on the AP exam can earn you college credit, which means you’ve tested out of certain college courses, and so can spend more time broadening and deepening your intellectual experience by taking other courses in their place.  Financially, it means you’ve saved money on a college course.

Advance Placement courses last for an academic year, and the AP assessment exams are administered in May.  Students who have scored consistently well throughout the year are considered well prepared to take the exam, though doing so is not required for college admittance.

AP courses are recommended for students who already have an interest in a particular subject area, or for those looking to prepare for the rigors they will encounter in college courses.  In addition, AP courses hone writing, problem solving, and analytical skills, and help students develop excellent study habits.


The following is the list of nineteen areas in which AP courses are offered. An AP
 Chinese Language and Culture course is expected to be added in 2006:
Art History
Biology
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Chemistry
Computer Science A
Computer Science AB
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
English Language
English Literature
Environmental Science
European History
French Language
French Literature
German Language
Comp Government & Politics
U.S. Government & Politics
Human Geography
Latin Literature
Latin: Vergil
Music Theory
Physics B
Physics C
Psychology
Spanish Language
Spanish Literature
Statistics
Studio Art
U.S. History
World History

You should ask your school’s AP teachers or coordinator which courses are offered, and what are the content and requirements for each.  You should also discuss how the workload might affect your performance in your other courses, as well as how not doing well in an AP class could undermine your college applications.  Home schooled students can also take AP exams, and there are a variety of resources to help home-schooled students prepare for the exam.

The idea for more in-depth learning during high school came about in the early 20th century.  A pilot AP curriculum of eleven courses was first implemented in 1952 when, after World War II more people than ever were entering colleges and universities, it became apparent that an educational gap first detected in the early 1900s between secondary schools and higher education was growing.  In the late 1950s, the College Board, an organization originally constituted by colleges for the purpose of assisting students make the transition from high school to college, took over the administration of the growing program.

The initial purpose of the AP exams was to offer standardized tests that students could submit with their college applications, rather than sitting for tests at individual colleges.  The AP classes served to prepare the students for these exams, and to that end the College Board sent outlines of material required for students to know for the test.  This procedure is still used today, but there are some concerns.  First, it is thought that AP classes do not uniformly prepare students for the exam, or that the focus of the class becomes the exam itself.  Secondly, the goal of broadening and deepening of a student’s interest in the subject is not met if the focus is on the AP exam — the problem is that students learn that something is the case, but not why.  On the other hand, the AP curriculum could be criticized for not preparing students for the exam if the teacher spends more time on the ‘whys’ of a subject matter, and seeks to inquire into and analyze connections and problems within the topic.  So, it may be the case that AP courses are not for everyone, and it is important to understand just how the AP program at your school is run.

A related problem with the AP curriculum is the assumption on the part of colleges that AP students are better prepared and more motivated than their non-AP counterparts.  This is not always the case.  Many students may cram facts and do fine on the exams, but do not have the appropriate critical skills required for college work.  Moreover, since AP curricula are not homogenous across the country, some programs are likely to be more challenging than others.  The least challenging AP course at one school may be no more sophisticated and demanding than a regular class in the same subject at another school.  It would seem that the effort of the College Board to create a system of meritocracy based on standardized testing inevitably fails in its noble goal because uniformity in the classroom is likely impossible — such uniformity might not be the best means of pedagogy in any case.

Another potential difficulty with taking an AP course and doing well on an AP exam is that it does not guarantee that a college will accept the work for credit.  If that is your goal, you may find yourself frustrated.  It is always a good idea to check with the colleges to which you plan to apply to find out how often they have accepted AP courses from your particular high school.  If they have not had any applicants from your school, find out if they’ve accepted students from high schools with similar AP programs as yours.

If you decide that AP classes are not for you, there are other alternatives.  Many students opt to take courses, with permission from their high schools, at their community college.  Most course credits transfer to a four-year school, and at a fraction of the cost.  This alternative is increasingly popular as community college programs become more challenging preparation for four-year college work.  More people attend community college now than ever, and the increasing improvement in the quality of education at these schools reflects that enrollment.  Many community colleges coordinate with local high schools to offer students a solid alternative to high school AP classes.

 
Another alternative to taking AP courses is to prepare independently, perhaps with a tutor, for the AP exams.  This means of study might be best suited for students whose high school offers AP courses for intellectual enrichment rather than AP exam preparation.

Whatever your decision, pursuing your school work with intellectual curiosity will stand you in good stead.

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"California State Standardized Tests

and You"

The State of California administers several standardized tests in public schools to assess students’ skill levels in elementary, junior, and high school grades.  One of the tests, the California Achievement Test (CAT) compares the scores of California’s students with those of the rest of the nation’s students.  Another test, the California Standards Test (CST) serves to evaluate how well California schools are performing compared with each other.

The California Standards Test (CST), the California Alternative Performance Assessment (CAPA) for disabled students, and the California Achievement Tests (CAT/6) that replaced that Stanford 9, are all exams administered under the California Standardized Testing and Reporting Program (STAR).  So, when students take multiple tests in a single academic year, each is given for a different reason: one for national comparison, and one for statewide comparison.

According to the State Board of Education, the California Standards Test (CST) “is to determine how well students are learning the skills and knowledge required by the California Academic Content Standards for each grade or course.”  This test covers subject areas according to grade level:

• Grades 2 – 11 are tested, according to their grade level, in reading and language.  The questions for the reading portion of the test are multiple choice, while the language questions are written.

• Grades 2 – 9 test in math, while grades 8 – 11 also test in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II provided they have completed the relevant course.  This portion of the CST is called the California General Mathematics Standards Test.  Those students in grades 9 and 10 who have completed Algebra II also take the High School Summative Mathematics portion of the CST.

• Grades 8, 10, and 11 also test in History-Social Science.

• Grades 9 – 11 who have completed a biology, chemistry, or physics course test in Science.  The science test is called the California Science Standards Test, but it is still administered under the auspices of the CST.

The number of questions for each of the exams range from 65 – 75.

The CAT/6 compares California students with a national sample from the same grade at the same time of year.  This test evaluates students in grades 2 – 11 across a range of subject areas.  The subjects are reading, language (written expression), and math.  The questions, with the exception of the language portion of the test, are all multiple choice:

• In addition to reading, language, and math, grades 2 – 8 are also tested in spelling.

• Grades 9 – 11 are tested in reading, language, math, social science, and science.

In both the CST and the CAT/6, students are tested according to grade level, but also in some instances according to specific courses they have completed.

Since the levels of knowledge vary from grade to grade and course to course, parents interested in learning more about the specific content of exam questions should contact their child’s school principal.  In addition, parents can download sample questions from the California department of education:

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/released.asp

One question that arises in the midst of the sometimes confusing details of the exams administered under the STAR program is how the California State Board of Education arrives at the standards for each test.  Part of the answer must be give in the context of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001.  According to the act, each state is required to give a yearly accounting of Adequate Yearly Progress.  The specific goal of the Act is to reach 100% proficiency in reading and math by the academic year 2013-2014, and so some of the criteria for determining whether or not Adequate Yearly Progress is being reached include more vague expectations such as state-by state averaging of test data to determine whether or not scores have improved from year to year, as well as high school graduation rates and attendance rates for elementary and middle schools.

Overall, ascertaining how the criteria work is a daunting task because they are rather complicated and involve taking data and calculating percentages.  As a result, many parents may find these (and other) criteria are hard to apply to their own school and children.  Ultimately, the Adequate Yearly Progress criteria is a calculus for determining the success rate of public schools, but not necessarily the success rate of individual students — and it is with individual students that parents are most concerned.

Nevertheless, if the statistics show that schools are performing well overall, then the likelihood of individual students succeeding should increase.  Parents should be aware of how their child’s school is performing, because the No Child Left Behind Act prescribes detailed consequences for those schools that consistently fail to meet the standards outlined in the Adequate Yearly Progress criteria.  Such failure impacts government funding of schools, which in turn affect individual students.

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"Discipline, Culture, and California Law"

Suppose you are walking down the street when you see a woman slap a child across the face.  Would you think the action was abusive?

Americans generally shy away from physical violence as a response to improper behavior.  This attitude is in sharp contrast to the way that other cultures raise their children — in particular, it is common in a variety of Asian cultures to employ physical discipline such as hitting.

Since many Asian families experience culture shock upon immigrating to America, it is no surprise that negotiating the new culture’s norms is daunting.  When those practices reach inside the privacy of one’s home and its long-held customs, the experience can be bewildering.

The assumption that underlies every act of discipline is that actions and words have consequences.  Moreover, it is assumed that discipline teaches children to think about potential consequences before engaging in certain activities.

The concept of discipline has changed in American culture over the past forty years, and the law has changed to reflect it.  U.S. law considers some methods of discipline criminal, and punishes the offenders with imprisonment and even the removal of the child or children from parental custody.

The California Department of Social Services investigates thousands of child abuse allegations each year.  Abuse involves physical (including sexual) and emotional harm and neglect.  The California Penal Code defines child abuse as “physical injury inflicted by other than accidental means on a child by another person.” (Pen. Code 11165.6)   This broad definition reflects the law’s emphasis on individual judgment.

What this means for parents is that reflection on one’s own beliefs and practices must occur.  Part of the freedom that the American system of justice encourages is the freedom to think independently and determine how best to discipline one’s children within the boundaries of the law.

Websites consulted for this article:
http://www.ericfacility.net/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed369577.html
http://www.bcifv.org/resources/newsletter/2004/spring/immigrant.shtml
 http://safestate.org/index.cfm?navID=6
here is a list of relevant penal codes for California:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=fam&codesection=pen&codebody=%22child+abuse%22&hits=20

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