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10. Uses, Misuses, and Unintended Consequences of AP and IB
Pages 185-196

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From page 185...
... . The practice of ranking schools by the number of AP or IB tests administered, as Newsweek does, or using students' scores on AP or IB exams for evaluating teachers or comparing the quality of teachers and schools, as some parents, school administrators, or policymakers may do, is making these programs high stakes in ways the program developers never intended.
From page 186...
... . However, the committee does not believe the AP and IB tests reviewed for this study sampled broadly and deeply enough across the full range of content knowledge, conceptual understanding, processes, and skills valued in the respective disciplines to make teaching to the test an appropriate strategy for developing the level of conceptual understanding that should be the goal of advanced study.
From page 187...
... In sum, teaching to AP and IB tests for the purpose of raising test scores can lead to superficial coverage of a broad base of content knowledge, to teachers ignoring the importance of meaningful inquiry-based and laboratory experiences (AP only) , and to students feeling that what they are learning in school has little application to the real world.
From page 188...
... The higher assessment scores may be more reflective of the students' other opportunities than of the quality of the school itself. In sum, relying solely, or even primarily, on AP or IB test scores to evaluate school quality reflects a failure to recognize that there are substantive differences in educational institutions across the nation (see Chapter 2, this volume)
From page 189...
... For example, schools that claim to offer advanced study programs may or may not be able to support such programs adequately, and the resulting courses may be far from what is intended by the program sponsors. Ensuring the quality and integrity of the AP and IB programs is a complex endeavor that it is frequently affected by factors beyond the control of either the College Board or the IBO.
From page 190...
... Because the examinations provide the only external evidence that schools are preparing students in a manner consistent with the College Board's expectations, the panels suggest that a clearly articulated policy is necessary if the College Board is to maintain quality control of the AP name. Online Courses As discussed in Chapter 5, advances in technology have made it possible for colleges, universities, technology companies, and other nonprofit and for-profit organizations to create and distribute AP courses and other AP support services, such as professional development for AP teachers, online.
From page 191...
... He finds further that, as a function of these placement policies, many highly able students who attend elite high schools are less likely than similar students in other high schools to take advanced mathematics or science courses or examinations. Schools limit participation in part, Attewell contends, because restricting, access to AP to the strongest students guarantees that the school's overall pass rate on the final examinaChapter 5.
From page 192...
... If measures are to be used to extend or restrict access to AP and IB courses, the committee urges that schools demonstrate that their criteria for entry to advanced study are valid predictors of student success. COf:~GE CREDIT AND PLACEMENT AP Program Throughout this report, the committee has challenged the assumption that AP courses uniformly reflect the content coverage and conceptual understanding that is developed in good college courses.
From page 193...
... , examined the performance in upper-level courses of students who took AP comparative government and politics and AP economics. The conclusion of both of these studies was that students who earned qualifying scores on AP examinations appeared to earn grades in second-level courses that were as good as those earned by students who took the first-level course in college.
From page 194...
... Further, there is no way to determine, from the data provided, the number of classes among the various colleges in which non-AP students outperformed AP students. It is possible that AP students were at a disadvantage in some classes or at some colleges.6 The committee's analysis of the College Board studies indicates that colleges and universities should not automatically award advanced placement to students with specified AP scores and assume that they will be successful.7 Rather, it is more consistent with the evidence developed by the College Board for colleges to adopt policies that consider students individually and in combination with the requirements of the courses into which they seek placement.
From page 195...
... , the number of institutions accepting IB examination scores for credit or placement has increased as a result of individual students petitioning colleges on a case-by case, college-by-college basis. In seeking credit and placement, many students cite evidence that IB HL courses are comparable to similar AP courses for which colleges and universities routinely grant credit and placement.
From page 196...
... Until the College Board makes a concerted effort to educate the media, policymakers, and the public about correct and incorrect interpretations and uses of its examination results, the kinds of abuses described here, and the consequences associated with them, will almost certainly continue and will probably increase. As this report demonstrates, advanced study programs have an enormous influence on virtually all other components of the education system in the United States.


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