AP class stretched over two years??????

[JFSinIL]

Ok, my oldest dd, at one of the local high school academies, was put into AP World History along with 49 other "gifted' kids as freshmen this year. Now the school folk have realized that this may be a stretch for most of the kids (they aren't all THAT gifted!!!! It is a foreign language academy, not the gifted academy) and send a note home telling us parents that AP World will now be a two-year class, and the kids won't take the AP test until their sophomore year.

 

Do you think the College Board will still allow this extended class to be called AP?

Will the kids still get two years credit or only one on their transcripts?

 

Anyone hear of a stunt like this???

 

I am also asking the College Board folk about this.

[Mary in GA]

That does seem really odd. First let me say I have no direct experience with AP classes. Possibly the class could be stretched over 2 years as World Hist 1 and World Hist 2. I don't think the title of the class is nearly as important to a college as the test score. I see this for for a 9th grader.

 

My personal opinion of AP classes is that they are not often an effective use of time. The student spends a year in AP history or English or whatever, takes the test, and maybe gets credit, depending on the test score and the university considering it, for one semester of that subject.

 

It was for these reasons we opted for dual enrollment over AP, although I realize that not everyone has access to local colleges or universities.

 

I will also say that some AP classes must follow incredible pacing. We initially thought we would follow the AP syllabus with ds for calc in high school. He absolutely could not have followed the AP text we chose, Foerster's, and completed it in one year's time to take the bc syllabus test. I'm sure others could. However, the study he did complete prepared him to go on to dual enrollment where he made As in his first 2 semesters of calc so far.

 

So, no real advice here. Just an opinion and a different approach.

Mary

[Caroline]

My guess is that they will only call the second year on the transcript AP World History. The first year will probably be called Honors World History. College Board won't have an issue with that. Since the AP class is considered an upper level course, a college will not mind that there are two world histories on her transcript.

 

PM me if you would like to know how my school handles these classes.

[Brilliant]

we could do it over 2 years. But I'd be afraid the student would forget the first half of the course by the time the test rolled around!

 

If we ever decide to attempt another AP course at home (we're doing APUSH at a breakneck pace now), I will start the work by July to allow a full 10 months to complete it. We didn't start APUSH until the almost the end of August.

[Storm Bay]

I thought that universities/colleges only accept the AP credit if the student scores high enough on the test. If this is the case, then I'm not sure how that would be a problem. You can study at home and take an AP test, based on what I've read here. And the school would have to give 2 names to it, I would think.

 

As for the number of credits granted, does that vary? The captain of my dds' swim team was going to be able to skip three semesters of calculus if she scored a 4 or a 5 on her AP Calculus course and she was going in to major in math. However, I'm not sure if she would have already been able to skip some just based on how much high school Calculus she had already taken.

[Moni]

Do you think the College Board will still allow this extended class to be called AP?

Will the kids still get two years credit or only one on their transcripts.

 

Well, it's up to the College Board, but I would think so.

They will get two years' credit on their transcript.

 

I haven't heard of it, but I don't "hear" about much ;) so that doesn't mean anything.

 

Sounds like a good idea to me.

What is the alternative that would be preferred?

[Moni]

But I'd be afraid the student would forget the first half of the course by the time the test rolled around.

 

I am assuming students are/would be reviewing periodically ;)

 

But I assume students are reviewing periodically regardless (AP, not AP, homeschool, Private school, etc.)

 

:seeya:

[SkateLeft]

The College Board does not license or accredit AP courses. They provide the syllabi, but any high school can claim a course is an AP course without asking permission from the College Board. For that reason, not all AP courses are equally rigorous. The idea is that an AP-labeled course will prepare students for the AP exam in that subject. Taking an AP course is not a requirement to taking the exam, however. That's why colleges award credit based on the outcome of the exam, but not based on the grade in the AP class on the high school transcript.

 

For that reason, the school could very easily say that AP World History is now a 2 year course, though I would question what they plan to put on the transcript so that when the child applies to colleges, it doesn't appear that they've taken one less year of history than they've actually had. I'd want to ensure that my child gets full credit for two years of honors level history, in that case.

[Gwen in VA]

I haven't been through the process so I don't know much about it, but the College Board must now approve the course syllabus for any course to be designated "AP."

 

This is a change in policy that was put into effect for the 2006-2007 school year.

 

If a school has not had its AP courses specifically approved by the College Board, the school cannot designate the courses as "AP" on a transcript.

[JFSinIL]

I haven't been through the process so I don't know much about it, but the College Board must now approve the course syllabus for any course to be designated "AP."

 

This is a change in policy that was put into effect for the 2006-2007 school year.

 

If a school has not had its AP courses specifically approved by the College Board, the school cannot designate the courses as "AP" on a transcript.

 

This is correct...and why I am fretting over the school's decision to split over two years.

 

Update - I did get a hold of a school official and they will be calling year one "pre-AP" and only year 2 "real" AP World. There will be lots of review built into the second year.

 

I just dislike my kid being a guinea pig for school folk.

 

Added later - my older son took AP World as a one-year course his Freshman year and Euro as a Soph - got a 4 on each but it was a TON of work preparing - he has had an excellent instructor, though, at his public school. He is in US this year.

Edited January 14, 2009 by JFSinIL

[Moni]

but the College Board must now approve the course syllabus for any course to be designated "AP."

 

 

This was my understanding too :)

 

:seeya:

[mamato4]

class in ps. He'll be taking the exam at the end of the second year. This is the first time I've also heard of a two-year class. And by looking at his book and work that he has to do, the class doesn't have any review built into it. There is sooo much information that it had to be a 2-year class.

[FloridaLisa]

Wow. . . kinda makes you rethink the AP route. Two years in high school vs. one semester in college.

 

Lisa

[Gwen in VA]

It is possible to do well on the AP exams with a one-year class! Some of the classes require a huge amount of work (like APUSH and bio) but some kids like a challenge. :tongue_smilie:

[Brilliant]

I am assuming students are/would be reviewing periodically ;)

 

But I assume students are reviewing periodically regardless (AP, not AP, homeschool, Private school, etc.)

 

:seeya:

 

Yikes, really? In our homeschool we don't typically review prior years' coursework, although for math and English skills they naturally build on prior years' work. At least in my experience as a teacher & student, science & history subjects are not reviewed once the year is done. So I do think a 2-year course would need a very different mind-set involving constant review of topics covered in a prior year's course.