online AP's through public charter

[Lucy the Valiant]

Dipping my toes in the water here - so if your state has a public virtual school with part-time enrollment that offers AP classes, are those a good thing? Our state does so, but I don't actually know anyone who's taken them to get a sense of how well they are done.

 

Is this something you've done? Or would consider? How do I evaluate the courses?

[Sunshine State Sue]

Years ago, I emailed FLVS and was able to obtain their statistics for % students who took the exam (I think it's required now, but back then it wasn't), % students who scored 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  The statistics were not impressive.

 

ETA:  I found the response dated Feb 2009.  I did not ask for subject statistics, so this is just the total.

I am going to have to round off a bit on the percent of test takers. About 60% (a little less I think - maybe 58%)  of our AP students took the exam.   Of those:
14.7% made a 5
20.3% made a 4
20.3% made a 3
22.1% made a 2
22.6% made a 1

 

Dipping my toes in the water here - so if your state has a public virtual school with part-time enrollment that offers AP classes, are those a good thing? Our state does so, but I don't actually know anyone who's taken them to get a sense of how well they are done.

 

Is this something you've done? Or would consider? How do I evaluate the courses?

 

Do they offer any help in finding a place to actually take the test?

[raptor_dad]

Years ago, I emailed FLVS and was able to obtain their statistics for % students who took the exam (I think it's required now, but back then it wasn't), % students who scored 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  The statistics were not impressive.

 

ETA:  I found the response dated Feb 2009.  I did not ask for subject statistics, so this is just the total.

 

From your info it looks like FLVS's pass rates are comparable to an average B&M public school, which is about what you would expect.

 

Those stats show ~55% of kids scoring 3 or higher. Depending on the test mix FLVS gives that seems almost exactly in line with national averages according to wiki[1]. The various english, history, chem, calc ab exams have the most test takers and all have passing rates at 55% +/- 3%.

 

 

 

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Placementhas pass rates for 2014 at the bottom and the wiki page for individual subjects have historical data.

[Lucy the Valiant]

Oh, you all are full of good info and good questions; I will ask our state coordinator some of these questions. We are still on the early end of needing / using this, but I like to plan ahead.

 

This is New Hampshire, fwiw. VLACS.

 

So it looks like they are listing AP scores of 5 (22%), 4 (33%), 3 (17%) as higher than the national average, though they are citing averages from different years (?).

 

(They are also listing slightly-higher-than-average SAT scores (618 CR, 542 Math, 572 Writing), though those are affected by so many things that the numbers aren't overly useful to me, really.)

 

 

I guess my question is - do the online private AP courses that are available to home schoolers offer significantly higher pass rates? (I realize it's not all about the test, but - that's one easy metric.) I'll check out a few places, I guess.

 

Huh. Now my mind is chewing.

[Luckymama]

I guess my question is - do the online private AP courses that are available to home schoolers offer significantly higher pass rates? (I realize it's not all about the test, but - that's one easy metric.) I'll check out a few places, I guess.

 

Huh. Now my mind is chewing.

Dd is taking AP English Language through Blue Tent Online. They have had more than 80% of their students score a 4 or 5 in the past three years. I'd say that's an impressive stat, even for a self-selecting group.

 

http://www.teacherweb.com/USA/BlueTent/Thompson/apt26.aspx

[Lucy the Valiant]

Thank you, LuckyMama! That is exactly the kind of info I need to start compiling. (Working with a limited budget here, but we can and will shell out when it's worth it, hence the researching.)

[yvonne]

Here are Pennsylvania Homeschoolers' online AP results from 2012.  (I'm a little surprised they weren't higher.)

 

[MarkT]

Do they offer any help in finding a place to actually take the test?

The AZ virtual charters provide the test site for the AP exams.

[MarkT]

Oh, you all are full of good info and good questions; I will ask our state coordinator some of these questions. We are still on the early end of needing / using this, but I like to plan ahead.

 

This is New Hampshire, fwiw. VLACS.

 

So it looks like they are listing AP scores of 5 (22%), 4 (33%), 3 (17%) as higher than the national average, though they are citing averages from different years (?).

 

Is it free for your student?  (besides the AP exam cost itself)

 

Try one.

[dereksurfs]

Is it free for your student?  (besides the AP exam cost itself)

 

Try one.

 

I just checked and its only free for New Hampshire residents.  Otherwise, its $900+ per class.

[G5052]

Yes, we had this available to us too (different state though), and I found some folks who had used them.  Here we pay $499/course.

 

Their scores are the same as public school because many public schools use them for AP classes where they don't have enough students to have a teacher do it.

 

Among those I found who had used them, it was pretty mixed. None said that it was outstanding overall. That versus what I was hearing about PA Homeschoolers, Blue Tent, Lukeion, etc.where the feedback was very positive with some teachers that were overwhelmingly positive.

 

I decided that if we were going to commit to something like that, we'd just pay more for a sure thing. 

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

Yes, we had this available to us too (different state though), and I found some folks who had used them.  Here we pay $499/course.

 

Their scores are the same as public school because many public schools use them for AP classes where they don't have enough students to have a teacher do it.

 

Among those I found who had used them, it was pretty mixed. None said that it was outstanding overall. That versus what I was hearing about PA Homeschoolers, Blue Tent, Lukeion, etc.where the feedback was very positive with some teachers that were overwhelmingly positive.

 

I decided that if we were going to commit to something like that, we'd just pay more for a sure thing. 

Which school did you use? it is unclear to me:)

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I think it can be tough to draw conclusions about state online schools.  You could have hard chargers who are overloading, students who want to get more AP so they can apply to selective schools, more average students whose schools aren't offering AP and private and homeschooled students.  I You could even have students who are taking it during the school day as a means for a school to provide a low enrollment course without hiring another teacher (using a current teacher as a coach/mentor instead as a subject matter expert).  In some states a public school student pays less for the online course than a non-enrolled student.  In VA, there was a sliding scale that related to the income level in the school district.  The district paid, but some districts paid less than others.

 

My observation related to homeschoolers taking AP is that there seem to be fewer students taking AP just because it's the next available course or because they want the bump in their gpa.  Most if not all homeschoolers are paying out of pocket.  I think there is a strong self-selection happening with homeschoolers that may not happen with public school students.  

 

On the other hand, you have the issue of a homeschooler knowing they want an AP level course, but having to guess about how well a given provider will deliver the course and if the method will suit the needs of the student.  

 

Also, I don't think that an overall exam score average gives much information.  An online provider could have a great program for World History, but struggle to present Biology or Calculus.  Every year Total Registration collects the score averages and comments as the College Board AP head releases them.  As others pointed out, having less than 20% getting 5 isn't unusual.  Some tests have less than 10% getting a 5.

[G5052]

Which school did you use? it is unclear to me:)

 

The contract is with WHRO Education Services. They use approved syllabi, and are of course cost less than some AP classes.

 

From what I've been told, they're OK. They just didn't rave about them. But I also only know of three families who used them, so a small sample, of course. One was doing two classes at the local high school and thus got two AP classes for free. All did reasonably well (above a 3).

[MarkT]

The contract is with WHRO Education Services. They use approved syllabi, and are of course cost less than some AP classes.

 

From what I've been told, they're OK. They just didn't rave about them. But I also only know of three families who used them, so a small sample, of course. One was doing two classes at the local high school and thus got two AP classes for free. All did reasonably well (above a 3).

Is this the one that offers the AP?

http://www.virtualvirginia.org/

[Lucy the Valiant]

Yes, it's primarily a cost thing for us - we'll have 2 students at once, and the virtual school's courses are free for us, so realistically the difference would be $1000-1400 (for 1 course) for our family.

 

I just realized that they also have middle school a la carte classes available, so I may try one or two of those to get a feel for the system. I tutored a kid who was trying to take Algebra I from them, and the format was . . . ridiculous (IMO). But it wasn't my own kid, and I've heard enough good things that I'd be open-minded that other classes may not suffer from the same weird formatting requirements.

 

I'll give it a try, and (if I remember) report back.

 

I appreciate the on-going feedback from other companies / schools. (Apparently our state also has online DE options, too? More to investigate, ha).