I'm Doug Johnson with the VOA Special English Education Report.
The Advanced Placement program is fifty years old. As we reported last
week, it was created to let high school students do college-level work.
They can earn college credits if they do well on an exam.
In the United States, one-third of students who graduate from high
school take at least one Advanced Placement course. Choices differ from
school to school. Yet schools in poorer areas might offer few A.P. courses
or none at all.
The program has many supporters. They point to studies that show that
students with A.P. experience are better prepared for college. In fact,
some arrive with enough credits to start at the second-year level. That
saves money.
But the program also has critics. Some students and educators say A.P.
classes often try to teach too much, so the learning is not very deep. And
critics argue that classes can seem taught too much to the exam. Students
and teachers might not have a lot of time to explore other areas.
Another issue has to do with the increasing competition for college.
Some education experts say the fears of parents are helping to fuel the
growth of A.P. classes. But a study by two economics professors suggests
that the program might be expanding too fast to guarantee quality.
Kristin Klopfenstein and Kathleen Thomas compared the performance of
students in Texas. They say A.P. students were no more likely than
non-A.P. students to have higher grade point averages after their first
semester at college. They also found that students with A.P. experience
were generally no more likely than others to return for a second year of
college.
Another researcher, Philip Sadler, presented a study last week at a
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This
study involved students who got high marks on an A.P. science exam but
still took a beginning-level science class in college. Mister Sadler says
they did well, but not as well as many people might have expected.
The College Board, which administers the A.P. program, says the study
was too small to mean much. It says other research shows that students who
do well on Advanced Placement exams are likely to be more successful in
college.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy
Steinbach. Read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm
Doug Johnson. |