Washington – The College Board, publisher of college-preparatory exams, is auditing every Advanced Placement course in the nation, asking teachers of an estimated 130,000 AP courses to furnish written proof by June 1 that the courses they teach are worthy of the brand.
An explosion in AP study – participation in the program has nearly doubled this decade – has bred worry, particularly among college leaders, of a decline in the rigor for which the courses are known.
Once the exclusive province of elite students at select high schools, AP study or its equivalent is now more or less expected of any student who aspires to attend even a marginally selective college.
In the haste to remain competitive, schools sometimes award the designation to courses that barely resemble the college curriculum the program is meant to deliver, according to College Board officials and educators. Until now, there has been no large-scale effort to weed out such abuse.
“Anybody could just say, ‘I’m teaching an AP course; I’m an AP teacher.’ There’s no protocol,” said Saroja Ringo, who teaches an AP class at a Silver Spring, Md., high school and works as an official grader of the exams.
Beginning with the 2007-08 academic year, only teachers whose syllabuses have been approved by the College Board may call their courses AP. Each teacher must submit an audit form, along with a syllabus for the course he or she teaches. Depending on how well the teacher’s syllabus – assuming he or she has one – reflects the rigor expected by the College Board, the process can be brief or time-consuming.
The task has been met with much grumbling. But many faculty begrudgingly accept that some quality control is needed.
“I think the teachers are sympathetic in hindsight – not while they’re doing it,” said Stephanie Valentine, who oversees the program at Springbrook High in Silver Spring.
The implications for high schools and colleges, students and teachers are enormous.
One would be a probable decline – after years of double-digit growth – in the number of courses labeled Advanced Placement. College Board officials have set a goal of approving at least 105,000 AP courses, of the estimated 130,000 nationwide. The attrition, they predict, would come mainly from teachers who decline to participate.
