Yesterday I posted reference to an article in the NY Times that discussed the relevance of the Advanced Placement (A.P.) classes offered in high schools in Minneapolis and across the country ['High School Drops Its A.P. Courses, and Colleges Don't Seem to Mind' by Yilu Zhao, NYTimes 2-1-02]. I did not, however, indicate why I was posting the material. I received a couple of comments offlist basically asking what my point was; and naturally, the list manager wondered about the relevance to Mpls.
First, I apologize for not making my point; I was reading the Times, in a hurry to get to a meeting, and simply posted the link to the list, without putting it in context to MPS. Basically, the story referenced what seems to be a growing trend among elite private schools in New York and elsewhere to reduce or eliminate advanced placement courses from their curriculum. The schools said that early-decision college admission results had vindicated a decision to drop their advanced placement courses. Meanwhile, many of the nation's top colleges often use performance in such A.P. classes as a measure of a candidate and as an indicator of a student's willingness to be challenged. In the article, however, admissions representatives of both Stanford and Harvard seemed to place no extra value on the A.P. classes. My question to list members is this: What, if any, tangible value can be assigned to the A.P. course offerings available to students in MPS? Assuming it is only a percentage of our brightest students that avail themselves of such offerings, what value is added in the process? Granted, many students aggressively seek the added challenges associated with the A.P. programming, but could other programming options be of benefit to a broader cross-section of our students? After all, the formal International Baccalaureate program is available to those exceptional MPS students seeking added academic challenge and recognition, and individual IB courses are available to non-IB program students as well. In other words, is there objective value associated with A.P. programming, or is it more of an intuitive value thing, akin to many of the class-size arguments? Could limited (A.P.) funds be better spent to help more students in alternative programming? I have no preconceived notions in this topic area. I'm asking, in the hope that some knowledgeable list members, with relevant experience and insight, might shed light on the topic. My own children have taken both A.P. and IB classes. Thanks in advance. Michael Hohmann 13th _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
