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Are Bonus Grade Points for Hard Courses Unfair?
Some new studies question the validity of extra admissions points for AP and IB courses.
"AP courses and exams have never been validated as admissions tools. They were designed solely for placement purposes."- Bob Schaeffer, public education director for FairTest
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A new study done in Texas
showed a correlation between taking Advanced Placement (AP) tests in
high school and graduating from college. However, as Jay Mathews points out, "Correlation Is Not Causation."
A second study done at University of California
makes a similar finding. However, this study was done using a sample of
81,445 freshmen entering UC between 1998 and 2001. UC accepts only the
top 12 percent of California high school graduates, which would seem to
skew the results since these students are probably highly motivated to
begin with.
While both studies may
show the importance of advanced college-level course in high school,
they also bring up skepticism with regard to assigning extra "points"
to the applications of students who have taken AP and IB.
Bob Schaeffer, public
education director for FairTest, the National Center for Fair &
Open Testing, thinks the questions raised by the CA study are good.
"Information from an applicant's high school record should be used only
for the purposes for which it has been validated," Schaeffer said. "AP
courses and exams have never been validated as admissions tools. They
were designed solely for placement purposes."
Trevor Packer, executive
director of the College Board's AP program, also thinks the study
brings up valid points. He thinks lassrooms that insist on students
tackling college-level material and taking the AP exam produce better
effects on college graduation than classrooms where the AP label has
been slapped on a mediocre course that shuns AP exams but gets its
students that extra grade point to make their UC applications more
impressive.
College-level courses in
high school may make students more prepared and better able to handle
college, but, these studies seem to point out, they shouldn't be
limited to traditional "A" students, but open to all. Read more at The Washington Post.
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