![\"test-taking,](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/08\/Test_student_assessment.jpeg\")
<\/a>Here\u2019s the context that had me thinking about this:<\/p>\n
The AP US History battle is not over. \u00a0Stanley Kurtz at the National Review has been reporting on the changes going on at the College Board, in which they have been creating a new set of learning objectives, and covered content, for the exam, with a decided leftward tilt, which have prompted substantial dissent. \u00a0Recent reports had been that the College Board had conceded the point, and made the curriculum even-handed, but a post from Monday<\/a> says this, well, window-dressing, basically.<\/p>\n Now, for the first time, AP European history, and soon AP U.S. Government and Politics, AP World history, and every other AP course will be governed by a lengthy and controlling curricular framework issued by the College Board, with revised textbooks and teacher-training materials to match. Before the College Board decided to issue detailed curricula for all of its courses, its de facto monopoly over AP testing didn\u2019t much matter. Now, by moving to take substantial control over the content of all AP courses, the College Board is effectively putting a national curriculum in place. That curriculum leans left.<\/span><\/p>\n The APUSH changes announced this summer do little to alter that fact. I\u2019ve argued (here and here) that the APUSH revisions amount largely to cutting the most controversial statements, while retaining the fundamental leftist thrust of the guidelines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Paul Mirengoff at the Powerlineblog, sheds more light on the situation<\/a>, in the form of a letter from a reader who was involved in teaching and grading AP courses\/exams:<\/p>\n [The College Board] makes money by having students take exams. It is a rather corrupt bargain. School administrators make their schools look good by claiming \u201cX % of our students take AP exams.\u201d [The College Board] makes money by having more students take exams. Taxpayers foot the bill.<\/p>\n Thus a huge number of students take the exams without any reasonable chance of passing. I would say that 75% of students in past years should never have taken the US History exam. But that\u2019s not good for business.<\/p>\n Over the past few years, [The College Board] has subtly pressured graders to increase student scores. This year the pressure is no longer subtle. Graders have been told to \u201cgive students the benefit of the doubt\u201d and \u201cset the bar very low.\u201d (Those are actual quotes.)<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not all. The whole structure of the exam\u2019s scoring has been changed specifically, I believe, to increase scores. The old exam, for all its flaws (and NAS notwithstanding, there was always a lot of political bias toward the left) tested content and it was surprisingly rigorous by today\u2019s standards of education. That\u2019s why so few actually passed the exam. . . .<\/p>\n In short, being factually correct, understanding the context of the documents, etc., isn\u2019t being graded (though some of us are violating that injunction). The exam has gone from a history exam to an exam that tests pedagogy, from \u201cdoes this student know something about U.S. history?\u201d to \u201cdoes this student know how to take a test?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In light of this, is continuing to try to reform the AP system really the right thing to do?<\/p>\n Why not, instead, try to break the monopoly?<\/p>\n How?<\/p>\n Three choices (choose one or all):<\/p>\n 1. \u00a0Develop competitor exams,<\/strong><\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Develop online module-based learning<\/strong>, and<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Develop dual-enrollment programs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n None of these are easy. \u00a0All of these require political action at the local level, demanding changes from school boards (who are likely perfectly happy with the situation, especially because unions would balk at anything that removes a student from a classroom) as well as at the state level, depending on the state.<\/p>\n What would a competitor exam<\/strong> look like? \u00a0It\u2019d be challenging to implement, because you\u2019d need buy-in from universities \u2014 perhaps someplace like Hillsdale could take the lead with an exam, with instructional materials. \u00a0Could they offer transferable credit for the exam? \u00a0I don\u2019t know. \u00a0And who would be the customers? \u00a0Individual students, or whole classrooms at \u201crebellious\u201d schools?<\/p>\n What would online learning<\/strong> look like? \u00a0Again, some university would have to create the system, offer transferable credit, and would have to do so at a price that\u2019s competitive with the $100 or so for taking an AP test. \u00a0 What\u2019s the appeal? \u00a0Moving away from assessment based on a single test. \u00a0Shortly after I finished my actuarial exams, the Society of Actuaries moved to an online module system for some of its exams. \u00a0Rather than passing a \u201ccourse\u201d (as they call them) by means of a single 4 or 6 hour exam, for some topics, anyway, one now works through instructional material on- and offline, with multiple assessments throughout the course, as well as a final assessment. \u00a0Now, I don\u2019t know how this works in practice, but the SOA seems to think it\u2019s a better approach for the topics they\u2019ve converted to this method. \u00a0In the high school context, of course, no one wants to do extra work, but this could be designed for a classroom setting.<\/p>\n And what would dual-enrollment programs<\/strong> look like? \u00a0This is by far my preferred choice. \u00a0My high school district is implementing a dual-enrollment program<\/a>, in partnership with the local community college, and alongside other school districts in the community college\u2019s attendance area, but unfortunately, they\u2019ve chosen a disappointing set of classes: \u00a0two math and one science class for non-majors, a speech class, an art appreciation class. \u00a0With respect to all of these, they\u2019ve chosen classes which would count as electives\/general education requirements only, and are not prerequisites for later study, so there\u2019s little risk to the student if the rigor and instruction isn\u2019t quite what it should be. \u00a0I was unable to figure out what the final of the six pilot program classes, composition, was meant to be about \u2014 would this truly be a replacement for an AP English Composition class + exam, and produce the equivalent transferable credit?<\/p>\n A well-designed dual-enrollment program ought to take every subject\u00a0for which there is an AP level class, and replace it with a dual-enrollment offering, in which the high school teacher is sufficiently qualified to teach the same curriculum, and evaluate the students with the same metrics, as their counterparts at the local community college or other sponsoring institution. \u00a0AP history \u2013 replaced! \u00a0AP calculus \u2013 gone! \u00a0AP composition, biology, etc. \u2013 all transformed into dual-enrollment classes of sufficient rigor to truly transfer to any institution and prepare the student for higher-level work.<\/p>\n Now, I fully expect that the immediate reaction of the administration would be: \u00a0why? \u00a0Why not keep the exams? \u00a0Setting up dual enrollment would be more work. \u00a0But it would benefit the students. \u00a0As it is, they study furiously for an exam in May, with lots of \u201cteaching to the test\u201d and as much learning about the particular nature of that test as the subject itself. \u00a0Then they\u2019re rewarded more for their ability to test-take in high-stakes circumstances than they are for their subject knowledge. \u00a0(And, yes, I\u2019m one of those who\u2019s immensely skilled at test-taking, and it\u2019s carried me pretty far.) \u00a0Then, after the exam is over, they goof off until the end of the year, because the exams occur in the first two weeks of May<\/a>. \u00a0And universities are skeptical enough of the results that there\u2019s no consistency (other than state mandates such as Illinois<\/a>) in what result is required to transfer, and whether the class\/exam is truly sufficient to allow the advanced placement its name promises. \u00a0In reading the various articles about AP I\u2019ve read plenty of comments about kids who took AP math\/science exams but were not truly prepared, and struggled and\/or failed at the next level class.<\/p>\n Having said all this, yes, I ought to reach out to my local school board and prod them to take that next step. \u00a0Will I? \u00a0Well, let\u2019s see. . .<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here\u2019s the context that had me thinking about this: The AP US History battle is not over. \u00a0Stanley Kurtz at the National Review has been reporting on the changes going on at the College Board, in which they have been creating a new set of learning objectives, and covered content, for the exam, with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":2579,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[174,242,167],"class_list":["post-2578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ap","tag-dual-enrollment","tag-high-school"],"yoast_head":"\n