Tag: Advanced Placement Courses Makeover

The Advanced Placement Courses & Exams

Advanced Placement (AP) courses, created by the Unites States College Board, are college-level curricula offered by universities or colleges to high school students. Grant placement and course credit is often given to those who obtain high scores on the examinations. Currently, there are more than 30 existing Advance Placement courses on multiple subject matters offered.

The Advanced Placement Courses had a long history. It started after the Second World War the program was pioneered by prep schools until them issues a report allowing high school seniors to study college-level material and take an achievement exam that allows college credit for high scorers. A pilot program was run during 1952. Ever since, millions and millions of students each year take Advance Placement examinations to qualify.

The College Board allows students to take any exam no matter what course he is participating under. This means that students studying online and those from schools without Advance Placement courses can equally take the examination.

AS of 2015, each exam costs $91, though financial support is given by local and state programs. For students who qualify, they are given discounts. Additional reduction depends by state. The number of AP exams keep on climbing up each year.

Wondering about the exam structure, the questions and time to finish the exam depends on the subject. The test consist of multiple choices, essay, and questions with short answers. The score rate is from 1 to 5. AP credits vary from school to school. Some offer Advanced Placement Courses for a rating of at least 3. Taking the exam does not mean you have to take the AP courses. If you consider sitting for the AP exam, you can register from your school coordinator. This person will tell you the cost and venue of the exam.

Advanced Placement Courses Makeover

To the many in the world of education and learning change, the newest AP Report to the Nation released lately by the College Board is cause for party on two fronts. The first accomplishment has to do with value.  During the program’s early history in the Sixties, Advanced Placement Courses were generally applied by white students.  Even as late as the mid-1990s, 80 percent of AP examinations were taken by whites or Asians.  Today, however, approximately a third of learners on the program are non-Asian learners of color.  And that number is growing every year.

The second accomplishment has to do with learning and training.  By the twenty-first millennium, AP was being assailed by its experts for unable to progress.  While college teachers progressively advised learners through closer examinations of topics with an alignment toward critical thinking and hands-on work, the Advanced Placement Courses continue to highlight survey-style coverage and content recall skills.  This newest report, however, details a course and examination upgrade that brings Advanced Placement Courses back to normal with “current methods while attending college education.”  And according to the College Board, changes in all subject matter will be significant. Both of these improvements are the result of effort, financial dedication (the Department of Education alone has invested one fourth of a billion dollars on its AP Incentive Program), and serious initiatives by everyone concerned to advertise the twin goals of value and quality. The problem, however, is that AP can do very little to actually recognize those goals.

Plan leaders, of course, are conscious of the restricted achievements of their labors, both through the Advanced Placement Courses and through other technically-oriented university enhancement initiatives.  Still, they keep favoring centrally-designed changes that can be applied in a top-down way because they get around the unforeseen and time-consuming work of engaging stakeholders, developing university potential, and creating a politically brave plan.  Consequently, their initiatives, while well-intended, never deal with the actual problems that impact school quality and academic value.  To use a metaphor of Larry Cuban’s, they make storm-tossed wave on the ocean’s surface without distressing the strong current below.