A blogger seeking a richer life... in a wasteland called the suburbs... for my family, myself, and anyone who will listen!

Monday, January 10, 2011

A.P. Redesign!

photo Erik Jacobs; illustration Stephen Webster

Now that my high school freshman is looking at taking AP courses, I've suddenly been thrown into the world of AP courses trying to quickly educate myself about the in's and out's or better the pro's and con's of such higher education.
My son got a letter recommending him for AP Art History and when I asked around about it I was disappointed to hear about the tremendous amount of memorization involved in the course.
So when I picked up the NY Times this weekend, my disappointment turned to optimism for the future of my kids' educations.
The NY Times article, "Rethinking A.P.", says that the A.P. College Board is changing the courses for the better, making the courses more about critical thinking and less about memorization.  They will start rolling out the first revamped courses starting in 2012-2013 "Major revisions to physics, chemistry, European History world history and art history will follow, with the hope of being ready for exams in 2014 or 2015.

Erik Jacobs for the NY Times

While the number of students taking the A.P. Biology test has doubled since 1997 the median scores have dropped to 2's and 1's which equates to C's and failing grades!

I'm encouraged about these overdue changes... Finally!!!

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