When AP is not really AP

Five years ago, I was presenting a workshop on careers in health science to a group of charter school students in Los Angeles. Over 100 students were present during each of the two workshops, where I had them complete a scavenger hunt through an online database of health careers to learn about median salaries, educational background needed, likelihood of employment, etc. The charter school was attached to a hospital and health center, and most of the students were interested in pursuing a career in health care, medical school, health sciences, and the like.

All of the students were minority students, and the school director had told me how academically successful his students were. He intimated that they were all going to be accepted into college and graduate with at least a bachelor's degree.

I spoke with one enthusiastic young lady and asked her what kinds of classes she was taking. I was extremely interested in hearing what she was studying that would enable her to be one of the first people in her family to not only graduate from high school, but go on to college. She proudly told me, "I'm taking FIVE AP (advanced placement) classes!" I was taken aback. "Five?" I asked. "What are they?"

"English, biology, history, algebra, and chemistry," she replied.

"And what grade are you in?" I asked.

"Eleventh," she said, preening a bit, for taking five AP classes at once is quite an accomplishment.

In fact, it is almost an unheard of accomplishment. I immediately thought that perhaps her "AP" classes were nothing more than regular classes with an AP label. Unsurprisingly, less than two years later the charter school closed. The associated hospital had lost its accreditation, and the test scores of the charter school students weren't as high as the local public school.

A few days ago, the New York Times posted an article about the phenomenon of inflating course titles: High School Classes May Be Advanced in Name Only. It claimed that

the content of these courses is not as high-achieving as their names — the course-title equivalent of grade inflation. Algebra II is sometimes just Algebra I. And College Preparatory Biology can be just Biology.

Students were taking more Advanced Placement classes and exams, but test scores for AP and other tests are not increasing.

I have encountered several other instances where students were supposedly being taught AP classes only to discover that the content of these classes closely matched the regular curriculum. One of the most common AP classes is biology, which is supposed to cover material learned in a college freshman biology class.

What will happen to these students once they get to college, only to find out the "AP" level of their coursework was nothing more than regular high school classes? They're unable to adjust to the level of detail required for understanding, the need for hours of independent study outside of class, and are often amazed when they fail to earn an A on their first exam.

A student in a failing school district, taking five AP classes as an 11th grader, is a warning sign that all is not as it should be. AP instructors should complete the mandatory AP training; AP students have high workloads and rigorous study requirements; and all AP students should sit for the AP exam. Districts should stop looking at AP as a way to introduce students to rigorous coursework when the same effect could be accomplished by changing the expectations of the teachers, the regular high school course requirements, and holding students accountable for learning outside of regular school hours. Otherwise, we might as well keep teaching "Jungle Gym Math" (from the article) and failing to adequately prepare our high school students to read, write, and do math at a 12th grade level.