AP: Advanced Placement or Awfully Poor?

Last week, I dished out some of the issues facing our education system in very broad brushstrokes. I ended on the claim that I was going to discuss where to allocate billions to best help our nation’s schools. Then I thought to myself, “That’s kind of a lot, so I’m going to work up to it.” And what better place to start than the top? In last week’s blog, I focused primarily on lower income students. We’re getting there. But I think there’s some merit to starting here.

Many of us taking this class probably took at least one or two AP classes through the College Board in high school. The very fact that I say, “start from the top” should indicate what kind of student this non-profit appeals to. However, there’s more than meets the eye. Let’s dive into everyone’s favorite: AP Tests.

These tests — which run anywhere from $50-$100 a pop — are taken by students enrolled in AP (Advanced Placement) courses in the hopes that they will obtain college credit by scoring high enough. Recently, the big fuss over these tests is whether or not they should be required for all students taking the AP Class. In private schools, it’s easy: there’s no issue in making people take them, and the cost can be tacked on to the tuition bill. However, the public realm of education isn’t dealt with as easily

Those for public schools requiring these tests say that they act as a litmus test in measuring the rigor of Advanced Placement classes. Those on the other side, however, will say that the tests are too expensive, or that they take too much of a toll on the students. As of last year, 2.7 million students took 4.9 million exams, which averages out to about 2 exams per student. Now, this average is like any other: an estimate. It doesn’t take into account schools districts, or where the tests were required to be taken. In other words, there are some students who took 6, and some who took 1.

However, if we look at the previously cited article a little bit more closely, we see another piece of data that is useful to our discussion. We see that enrollment in AP classes has nearly doubled from 645,000 in 2006 to 1.1 million in 2016, and that the percentage of students earning a score of 3/5 or higher has moved from 14.3% to 21.9% in the same time period. This is the statistic that I wish to focus on.

First off, props to both enrollment and the average score going up, both undoubtedly good things. But, if we say that a 3/5 is a pass, then only about 22% of students are passing these tests. If this were the reality in a high school or a college classroom, you’d have parents calling, teachers crying, and principles swearing. So why is this average so freaking low? One reason could very well be requiring these tests to be taken.

Perhaps a first person account best demonstrates this. My junior year I took AP Biology. Now, I’ve done a lot of stupid things, but taking this class is no doubt in my top three. That’s right after the time I…never mind. Anyway, I opted out of the test because I knew I was going to pay 90 bucks to curse to myself for three hours and receive a failing grade. Another instance that comes to mind was last year’s AP Gov test. This time, my school required the test if you took the AP Class. One of my buddies already had his acceptance letter from a school; a school that didn’t accept AP Credits. Therefore, he had to pay 90 bucks for nothing. So, instead of trying his best, the dude took a three hour nap (baller move though, can’t lie). Another friend found himself in the same predicament and wrote Lil Uzi Vert lyrics for his essays. So, these kids surely brought down the national average.

The case for low income students in the same scenario is a little different, though. One could lay the case that not a lot of them would take AP classes in the first place, leading to a lack of resources, unfamiliarity with curriculum, and rookie teachers. However, one could also argue that these kids taking the tests take AP as a last shot in their hopes to get to college because they can’t pay for it. And in that regard, the system certainly is not helping them out at all. “Here, pay 90 bucks for “AP” to appear on your application” doesn’t really do anybody any sort of good.

So, what have we learned? Even for our nation’s “best” students, this highly regarded academic achievement does not come without its challenges. The same, of course, could be said for low income students. And, according to the organization that creates the tests, just short of 22% of takers actually pass. Now, we’ve discussed some of the potential reason for that average being so low, but it really is egregiously low if you think about it. Think about if only 1 in 5 were passing every single one of your Gen. Eds…yeah. Something needs to be done here, and that’s before any of the “normal” or “college prep” curriculum even comes into question. That we will talk about next week.

 

 

 

 

One thought on “AP: Advanced Placement or Awfully Poor?

  1. I took no less than ten AP exams during my high school career, so this is a topic that is very interesting to me. After reading your post, I looked into the exact cost of the AP exams. I found that for 2018, the student cost for a regular AP exam is $94. However, that does not include the additional cost to the school, which is $85 per exam, minus a $9 rebate per exam. For special AP exams like the AP Seminar and AP Research exams, the student cost is $142 per exam and the school cost is $133 per exam. That is not even to mention all the extra fees for international testing, late testing, unused exams, late orders, late payments, or late returns. However, there is funding in place specifically to help low-income students. The College Board reduces the AP exam fee by $32 per exam for students with financial need. The school does have to forgo the $9 rebate per exam for every reduced-fee exam, which makes the school cost $53 per regular AP exam or $101 per AP Research or AP Seminar exam. In addition to this College Board fee-reduction program, there is federal funding to offset the cost of AP exams for low-income students. From 1998-2016, the Advanced Placement Test Fee Program provided states with dedicated funding to be used only for this purpose. But in 2017, this program was eliminated and its funds consolidated with the funds of forty other education programs by the Every Student Succeeds Act. Now, the funds for subsidizing the AP exam costs of low-income students are a part of a Title IV, Part A block grant, 95% of which will go to districts and up to 5% of which will go to states. States also have the ability to set aside 3% of Title I funds to pay for things like covering AP exam fees of low-income students and providing AP courses not currently offered, and districts and schools can use Title I, Part A funds to pay AP exam fees for low-income students under certain conditions. These funding changes affect both private and public schools. The elimination of dedicated funding means that state and districts must commit to protecting AP access for low-income students and prioritize funding for low-income students’ AP exam fees in order to not lose the strides that have been made in closing AP equity gaps and to make further progress.

    Lasair Ni Chochlain

    Sources:
    https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/ap-coordinators/exam-ordering-fees/exam-fees
    https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/ap-coordinators/exam-ordering-fees/exam-fees/reductions
    https://professionals.collegeboard.org/testing/states-local-governments/new-education-policies/essa-federal-funding-ap?excmpid=VT-00211

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