Bastiat’s Bastions

The College Board (CB) released a report and a press release celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Advanced Placement (AP) program.  For those of you not familiar with the program, students take rigorous high school classes in any of a number of topics.  Upon completion of their coursework, they take an AP exam.  If they pass (a score of 3 or better depending on the college), they earn college credit.

It seems clear from the release that the CB is interested in increasing AP participation.  I think that is a desirable goal.  I can think of at least two ways to improve participation.  

One way would be to take a group of highly motivated high-aptitude students who are already in a classroom with a great teacher.  They are not taking an AP course per se, but perhaps the curriculum could be adjusted and their course could become an AP class.    Students will not learn any less (hopefully even more) and many students will pass the AP test and earn cheap college credits.  The CB will smile as participation rates rise (progress!) while pass rate will remain constant (standards!).  This is a winner.

A second way would be to take a group of students who are whittling at the third grade level and change the name of their course to AP English.  Here, the participation rate would surely increase, but the pass rate would fall dramatically.  Keep in mind it is not free to make this change. 

Here is an excerpt from the press release.

“…new programs must be initiated to build schools’ capacities to offer AP courses to all student populations, especially underserved minority students and young people from rural America.”  Such initiatives…have been successful in many states.
 
In Arkansas last year, policy legislation resulted in record-breaking improvements in AP participation…Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, Arkansas legislation mandates that all school districts provide AP courses in each of the four core areas of mathematics, English, science, and social studies…Arkansas is covering the cost of the AP Exams for all students and is providing schools with professional development funds.

The results of Arkansas’s initiatives are unparalleled; in just one year’s time, Arkansas doubled the number of students participating in AP…”

I am always a bit skeptical when Arkansas breaks any record.  In 2000, 1166 out of 2208 Arkansas test takers (53%) passed their exams.  Not bad for Arkansas, but below the national average of 62% and even the 59% pass rate of Louisiana students.  In 2005, there were many more test takers indeed, 6393.  However, only 2058 of them (32%) passed.  If we look at the “extra” 4185 people that showed up in 2005, only 892 (21%) passed the test. 

You may be pleased.  An extra 892 people have passed tests under their belt.  At what cost were these gains achieved?  Perhaps these “professional development funds” are better spent elsewhere?  Do non-AP classes in Arkansas get larger?  Are other resources diverted from non-AP classes?  Or from lower grade levels?  Are these smart choices? 

Indeed, the increase in access in Arkansas is best in the nation.  Where in the press release does it mention that the reduction in the pass rate in Arkansas is the worst in the nation?

Chad Turner

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2006 at 10:50 am and is filed under Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.