Now that I have 9 years in the US as a teacher (that followed on from 29 years in the UK) I can see that there are discussions

I have a very different perspective which maybe because I’m from the UK.

There are things that totally baffle me. For non-AP:

1. Teachers decide what students learn in High School.
2. Teachers decide what grade they get.
3. No one checks either of these things.

… 1/n

None of these things is about learning. No one cares if this material is in their long term memory. Or if it’s consistent in time or space: an A in physics in LA may or may not mean the same as an A in NYC. This year, or last year, or next year.

And nobody seems to mind.
2/n

So universities don’t know what the GPA means (see recent posts about UCSD getting A grade GPA students who can’t do MS math, + Harvard), so the first year is spent levelling/catching people up.

No one seems to mind this either.

Well, university professors mind a lot.
3/n

Now let’s talk about APs.

I hear ‘College Board is getting rich’ a lot. However, it is that case that it costs money to write/check/test/grade/moderate external exams.

Not to mention ensuring they are reliable over time, which is actually very hard.

So… profit?
…4/n

A small fraction of the teaching population have taught APs, an even smaller number have graded/been readers, and even smaller number been question writers.

So from the outside it may look like a licence to print money. It certainly makes money… and it’s a non-profit?
5/n

It is very hard to compare with UK exam boards (independent education charities who reinvest profits into education) because it is WAY more than an exam board.

Maybe it would help to separate out the APs from the rest of the operation and make it truly not-for-profit.

…6/n

Should we not have APs because College Board makes a profit?

• No. That’s missing the point.

Does everyone teaching APs do a good job?

• No. I’ve seen some abysmal practice (+some excellent practice)

Do students get filled with useless facts?

• In physics absolutely NOT.
  7/n

In physics it’s an excellent, coherent curriculum that benefits students HUGELY if taught so students have it in their long term memories, NOT

• teaching to the test/ teaching meaningless facts
  but
• giving them the domain knowledge + the skills to use it in the future.
  8/n

I’ve seen students flourish in STEM courses as a result of the confidence they have gained from their school AP experience. And anecdotally college faculty have said that in STEM students who have no AP background struggle.Why? Preparing for an external exam is a challenge!
9/n

We OWE students the opportunity to do an exam NOT written by their teacher.

It’s the single oddest thing.

Because it’s so common it may not seem like an odd thing.
I teach you things. I give you a ‘review packet’ with practice questions. Ss know I know what’s in the exam. So the prac

Which brings me to the BIG question. What’s a high school education for?