Md., Va. Earn High Marks on AP Exams
By Jay Mathews, Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 8, 2006; A08

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Last year, a record 23 percent of American seniors graduated from high school having taken at least one Advanced Placement exam, the College Board said yesterday in a report dramatizing the rising influence of AP on teaching, college admission and state education policy.

In its annual AP report released yesterday, the College Board rated each state's success in preparing students for AP exams in 35 subjects, with Maryland and Virginia scoring near the top. The report hailed advances by minorities in taking the three-hour exams and analyzed the strength of the AP science and calculus courses that President Bush said in his State of the Union address should get a new dose of federal teacher training funds.

Nationally, 14.1 percent of all graduating seniors last year scored at least 3 out of 5 points, the level at which most colleges give course credit, on at least one AP exam, compared with 10.2 percent of seniors in 2000, the report said. The top five states in that category in 2005 were New York with 22.8 percent; Maryland, 21 percent; Utah, 20.5 percent; California, 19.7 percent; and Virginia, 19.3 percent.

In addition, the number of minorities taking AP courses has soared, according to the College Board. The number of African Americans taking the courses has gone from 19,797 in 1995 to 62,179 in 2005. For Hispanics, the increase in that period was from 32,195 to 134,811, with great gains in Hispanic AP participation in Florida, Maryland, the District, California and Texas.

Among those taking the 2005 AP tests, whites and Asians each had passing rates of 63.3 percent. The passing rate for Hispanics was 46.5 percent and for African Americans, 27.8 percent.

Bob Schaeffer, director of public education for FairTest, a testing watchdog organization, said his group is not as critical of AP as it is of the SAT, which it says is used too much by colleges to decide which students to admit. The AP "is a gateway test, not a gatekeeping test," Schaeffer said, and it's one that he thought helped both him and his son when they were in high school.

But, he added, there is a danger that the College Board will oversell the AP as a cure for American high schools' ills. "The College Board has really seized the opportunity to promote this," he said.

Unlike the College Board's other major test, the SAT, which has a strong rival in the ACT college entrance exam, the AP is by far the largest supplier of exams that can earn college credit for U.S. high school students.

Trevor Packer, executive director of the AP program, said that, on the contrary, his data show that AP is still underused, to the detriment of many students who would benefit from a more challenging program.

The rapid growth of the AP test -- with the number of students taking the test doubling since 1995 -- has been praised by some educators as a way to invigorate low-performing high schools and criticized by others for putting too much pressure on students and forcing schools to teach subjects the AP way. Students in some Washington area schools complain about four hours of daily homework because of so many AP classes, but a University of California at Los Angeles study shows most high school students do less than an hour a day.

Packer said that about 150,000 high school students have access to AP calculus courses, but a College Board analysis of PSAT scores shows that five times as many have the capacity to do well in those courses if they were offered at their schools. The analysis showed that 100,000 students had access to AP biology, but eight times as many could do well in that course.

College and high school experts wrote the AP exams given last May to students from 11,498 public and 3,075 private schools. Usually half the exam time is devoted to multiple-choice questions scored by machines and the other half to essay or free-response questions scored by AP teachers and college professors meeting in summer grading sessions. The much smaller International Baccalaureate program gives five-hour exams that are usually all free-response questions.

The exams are designed to mimic college introductory course final exams. Some students do well enough on AP tests to start college as sophomores.

Some area high schools were recognized yesterday for having the nation's highest percentage of seniors receiving scores of 3 and above on AP exams. The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County was best among large schools in calculus BC, chemistry, French language, French literature, U.S. government and politics and U.S. history. Walter Johnson High School in Montgomery County was best in world history among large schools. Two D.C. private schools were also at the top -- National Cathedral among small schools in French literature, and Sidwell Friends among medium schools in English literature and composition.

Maryland Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick attributed the state's AP success to its emphasis on raising minority achievement and participation. Acting Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia Wright said her state opened doors to AP courses and other learning opportunities "once reserved for students in elite schools and programs."

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

College Board: Advanced Placement

AP Gains Highlight Evolving Challenges
From Participation To Higher Scores
By Lori Aratani, Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 8, 2006; A08

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Across the Washington region, more black and Hispanic students are participating in highly touted Advanced Placement courses. Now, educators say they have to make certain that those students are not only taking the classes but are succeeding in them.

A survey of area school systems bolsters many of the trends highlighted in the College Board's Advanced Placement Report to the Nation released yesterday -- for example, educators are expanding opportunities for students to take the rigorous AP courses, which allow students to earn college credit in high school. But school officials say greater student numbers and diversity mean greater challenges.

"Now it's about, once you've opened those doors, how do you handle that?" said Ayeola Boothe-Kinlaw, director of the equity access initiative for the AP program. "How do you help students handle that rigor?"

For many years, AP held barriers for minority students, said George P. Arlotto, principal of Wheaton High School in Montgomery County and a former AP teacher. "A lot of schools throughout the country created prerequisites to get into AP classes. Today, we've taken those barriers down. We tell the students, 'If you have the desire, then we want you in the class.' "

Now, more than 60 percent of the nation's high schools participate in the AP program. According to the College Board, one in three students takes an AP course in high school.

In Montgomery, Maryland's largest school system, the number of students taking AP exams almost doubled between 2000 and 2005. In Fairfax County, the number grew 32.2 percent, but the percentage of black and Hispanic students taking the tests in Fairfax remained steady at about 9 percent over the five-year period.

At Wheaton, where most students are ethnic minorities, the number of students taking the AP exams has grown almost sixfold -- from 46 in 2001 to 247 in 2005. Arlotto said that's partly because educators are making more of an effort to encourage students to take the difficult coursework.

But Wheaton is a prime example of the next phase in AP. Although more students are enrolling, not all are achieving passing scores on the AP exams. In 2005, only 37.4 percent of the students who took an exam scored a 3 -- the minimum passing score -- or better, compared with 67.5 percent in 2001.

The campus is taking steps to offer help with studying and organizational skills. The school's AP biology teacher meets one-on-one with students on Saturdays, and counselors have organized brown-bag luncheons to help students learn how to form study groups, said Aggie Alvez, director of communications for Montgomery schools.

Arlotto said passing the exam is a goal the school will push for, but he said that much of the focus has been on improving access to the program. Even if students aren't necessarily earning college credit, they are being exposed to a tougher curriculum that many think helps improve their study skills, Arlotto said.

Still, students need to move toward passing the test, educators say. At Potomac High School in Prince George's County, none of the 60 students who took AP exams in 2005 received a passing score.

In Howard County, the number of black students taking an AP test has almost tripled, from 37 in 2000 to 105 in 2005. About 19 percent of the students in Howard take at least one AP exam. But achievement trends are mixed: More black students posted scores of 3 or better, but the percentage of Hispanic students scoring 3 or better declined from 81 percent in 2003 to 79 percent in 2005. In Prince George's, the percentage of black students scoring 3 or higher on the exams increased in 2005 but declined slightly for white students.

In Arlington County, the number of Hispanic students taking the tests more than doubled from 2001 to 2005, from 101 to 267. Even more significant: The percentage of Hispanic students earning a 3 or better increased from 8.6 percent to 17.6 percent. At Wakefield High School, nearly half of the Hispanic students who took the exam scored a 3 or better.

Arlington County Superintendent Robert G. Smith said the system has worked closely with students and families to expose them to the importance of taking the high-level courses. Educators at Wakefield launched a summer bridge program to help prepare black and Hispanic students for AP coursework and offer an in-school support program in which students meet during their lunch hour.

"There is no reason to believe that enrollment in rigorous classes should vary by ethnicity,' Smith said. "We also realize that students can do more than they've done in the past. Both AP and International Baccalaureate provide ways in which students can stretch a bit.'

Montgomery Superintendent Jerry D. Weast said that school system has been pushing access to AP programs earlier. "The theory that I'm using is that it forces the high schools, middle schools and elementary schools to change their rigor.'

Weast said the school system has focused on eliminating barriers that may have kept students who had the desire to take the advanced courses but were denied the opportunity.

"We have to educate not only at a higher level but more kids at a higher level,' Weast said. "The old sorting measure we used to use no longer works. Since we have a lot of diversity in the county, we can't just leave groups behind. It makes sense to me that we're trying to blaze a pathway. It's not a road yet, but a fairly clear pathway.'

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Calculating Beyond Their Years
For More High School Students, AP Math Just Isn't Sufficient
By Daniel de Vise, Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 6, 2006; B01

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Some Washington area high school students are pushing so far ahead in math courses that Advanced Placement, the widely accepted pinnacle of pre-collegiate study, no longer goes far enough.

More than 500 students in the Montgomery and Fairfax school systems, the region's two largest, are taking multivariable calculus, a course traditionally taken by math majors in their second year of college -- at least in the old days. That means the students have a full year of college-level calculus under their belt before they leave high school.

These "post-AP" courses, once taken by a tiny share of elite math students, are riding a growth curve. Montgomery County offers multivariable calculus to 265 students at 12 schools and will add a 13th in the fall. Fairfax County has 242 students enrolled in the course and expects the number to pass 300 in the coming school year. The Anne Arundel County school board approved its own version of the class, called Calculus III, last month to meet rising demand.

Students are pushing the boundaries of math in high school because of a corresponding surge in high school-level math in middle schools. Driving the trend is a conviction that algebra, long the exclusive province of high schools and colleges, is a fundamental pre-collegiate skill that should be taught as soon as students are ready to learn it. Students with a flicker of math talent are taking the high school Algebra I course in eighth grade, if not before. Starting with the Class of 2009, Marylanders must pass an algebra test to exit high school. Virginia requires algebra to graduate; the District does not.

"You have algebra taught in college, and yet we have algebra taught in seventh grade," said Mark Johnston, assistant superintendent of Arlington schools. "The issue there really is, it's a gateway course to more advanced courses in science and math."

Public high schools in the Washington region are witnessing an explosion of college-level study across the curriculum, with students enrolling in record numbers of AP courses and their Euro-inspired counterpart, International Baccalaureate. Many students finish high school with the equivalent of a year's college study completed.

But only in math, administrators say, are students exhausting the supply of available AP and IB courses. This is partly because of the middle school algebra push and partly because of the sequential nature of math study. Each math course is a prerequisite for the next.

Once students complete the AP Calculus BC class, the next logical step is to multivariable calculus, one more step along the branch of mathematics involving the differentiation and integration of mathematical functions. The course takes calculus study into the third dimension.

"All right guys, let's get ready to work," said Tom Moriarty, summoning the attention of 13 seniors in his multivariable calculus course at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg one recent afternoon.

"Look at the contour graph," he said, as students studied a graph filled with wavy, colored lines. "Look to see where the contours are heading toward a max, look to see where they're heading toward a min."

Solving this three-dimensional puzzle required a mix of conjecture and something called the second derivatives test.

When the school tapped Moriarty to teach the new course last year, he had to search his basement to find notes he took on multivariable calculus as a sophomore in college almost 30 years ago.

"So, we're in the learning stages, and I'm learning, as well as the kids," he said.

Two decades ago, high schools offered a greater variety of math courses to students but graduated them with fewer advanced skills, said Cathy Seeley, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Today, math instruction is approaching the opposite extreme, driven by a relentless push toward algebra and calculus.

Some scholars believe educators and parents have enshrined calculus as a status symbol that students feel they must attain before they enter college. Possibly lost along the way: the rich variety of topics in algebra, plane and solid geometry, trigonometry and mathematical applications that once occupied students through much of their journey through high school.

"Kids are missing out on some very important concepts that have been pushed aside to make room for calculus," said Alfred S. Posamentier, dean of the School of Education at the City College of New York and author of numerous math books. Posamentier worries that, apart from a handful of academically gifted students, some teenagers might be "shunted into the calculus course" before they are intellectually mature enough to fully grasp what they are learning.

Seeley said her greatest concern is that schools will run out of math courses to offer their most advanced students, leaving them no math to study in their final year. "Certainly it's better to take math than not to take math," she said.

The College Board has no strong interest in adding yet another calculus course to its AP program, one official said.

Until recent years, students who sought mathematical challenges beyond the first tier of college courses typically traveled to the nearest college to take them. As their numbers grew, school systems began to offer advanced calculus courses.

The Arlington school system introduced multivariable calculus in the late 1990s. Students learn it face-to-face or via real-time broadcasts, with live video and two-way audio hookups.

Anne Arundel is likely to offer a similar program in the fall. At least one student at each school is prepared to take the class. Among them is Paul Wheatley, 16, a junior at Annapolis High School who has a new challenge awaiting when he finishes a combined Calculus I and II course.

"I don't think I could take a year off and still retain the information I've learned," he said.

At Quince Orchard, Moriarty's students are taking things slowly. They are, after all, only the second group to take the high-level calculus course at their school.

"All right, guys, let's see how far you got," Moriarty said, after leaving the class to mull the contour graph.

"We got it," a group of girls boasted from the back of the class. One of them, 17-year-old Alice Chen, smiled and said, "I actually understand this."

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

AP Gains Highlight Evolving Challenges
From Participation To Higher Scores
By Lori Aratani, Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 8, 2006; A08

LINK

Across the Washington region, more black and Hispanic students are participating in highly touted Advanced Placement courses. Now, educators say they have to make certain that those students are not only taking the classes but are succeeding in them.

A survey of area school systems bolsters many of the trends highlighted in the College Board's Advanced Placement Report to the Nation released yesterday -- for example, educators are expanding opportunities for students to take the rigorous AP courses, which allow students to earn college credit in high school. But school officials say greater student numbers and diversity mean greater challenges.

"Now it's about, once you've opened those doors, how do you handle that?" said Ayeola Boothe-Kinlaw, director of the equity access initiative for the AP program. "How do you help students handle that rigor?"

For many years, AP held barriers for minority students, said George P. Arlotto, principal of Wheaton High School in Montgomery County and a former AP teacher. "A lot of schools throughout the country created prerequisites to get into AP classes. Today, we've taken those barriers down. We tell the students, 'If you have the desire, then we want you in the class.' "

Now, more than 60 percent of the nation's high schools participate in the AP program. According to the College Board, one in three students takes an AP course in high school.

In Montgomery, Maryland's largest school system, the number of students taking AP exams almost doubled between 2000 and 2005. In Fairfax County, the number grew 32.2 percent, but the percentage of black and Hispanic students taking the tests in Fairfax remained steady at about 9 percent over the five-year period.

At Wheaton, where most students are ethnic minorities, the number of students taking the AP exams has grown almost sixfold -- from 46 in 2001 to 247 in 2005. Arlotto said that's partly because educators are making more of an effort to encourage students to take the difficult coursework.

But Wheaton is a prime example of the next phase in AP. Although more students are enrolling, not all are achieving passing scores on the AP exams. In 2005, only 37.4 percent of the students who took an exam scored a 3 -- the minimum passing score -- or better, compared with 67.5 percent in 2001.

The campus is taking steps to offer help with studying and organizational skills. The school's AP biology teacher meets one-on-one with students on Saturdays, and counselors have organized brown-bag luncheons to help students learn how to form study groups, said Aggie Alvez, director of communications for Montgomery schools.

Arlotto said passing the exam is a goal the school will push for, but he said that much of the focus has been on improving access to the program. Even if students aren't necessarily earning college credit, they are being exposed to a tougher curriculum that many think helps improve their study skills, Arlotto said.

Still, students need to move toward passing the test, educators say. At Potomac High School in Prince George's County, none of the 60 students who took AP exams in 2005 received a passing score.

In Howard County, the number of black students taking an AP test has almost tripled, from 37 in 2000 to 105 in 2005. About 19 percent of the students in Howard take at least one AP exam. But achievement trends are mixed: More black students posted scores of 3 or better, but the percentage of Hispanic students scoring 3 or better declined from 81 percent in 2003 to 79 percent in 2005. In Prince George's, the percentage of black students scoring 3 or higher on the exams increased in 2005 but declined slightly for white students.

In Arlington County, the number of Hispanic students taking the tests more than doubled from 2001 to 2005, from 101 to 267. Even more significant: The percentage of Hispanic students earning a 3 or better increased from 8.6 percent to 17.6 percent. At Wakefield High School, nearly half of the Hispanic students who took the exam scored a 3 or better.

Arlington County Superintendent Robert G. Smith said the system has worked closely with students and families to expose them to the importance of taking the high-level courses. Educators at Wakefield launched a summer bridge program to help prepare black and Hispanic students for AP coursework and offer an in-school support program in which students meet during their lunch hour.

"There is no reason to believe that enrollment in rigorous classes should vary by ethnicity,' Smith said. "We also realize that students can do more than they've done in the past. Both AP and International Baccalaureate provide ways in which students can stretch a bit.'

Montgomery Superintendent Jerry D. Weast said that school system has been pushing access to AP programs earlier. "The theory that I'm using is that it forces the high schools, middle schools and elementary schools to change their rigor.'

Weast said the school system has focused on eliminating barriers that may have kept students who had the desire to take the advanced courses but were denied the opportunity.

"We have to educate not only at a higher level but more kids at a higher level,' Weast said. "The old sorting measure we used to use no longer works. Since we have a lot of diversity in the county, we can't just leave groups behind. It makes sense to me that we're trying to blaze a pathway. It's not a road yet, but a fairly clear pathway.'

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Parents to Have Bigger Say in Education
By Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 5, 2006; AA03

LINK

To improve schools, Maryland aims to raise parent power.

That's the message behind a series of moves, from the cosmetic to the practical, announced this fall by Maryland Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick at a state PTA meeting in Ellicott City.

Grasmick's actions came in response to a two-year task force known as the Maryland Parent Advisory Council. She told the Maryland Parent-Teacher Association that she would convene a permanent parent involvement advisory council to help guide state education policy.

She also said the Maryland State Department of Education's Student and School Services Division would be renamed to acknowledge the role of parents. From now on, an aide said, it's the Division of Student, School and Family Services. And Grasmick said two full-time staff members are being assigned to family issues.

According to state education spokeswoman Linda Bazerjian, that is an increase from the one staff member who had worked on the issues part time.

In addition, the department will survey Maryland's 24 school systems about how they help promote family involvement and will seek funding to begin training parents, teachers and administrators. Bazerjian said the training, expected to start in the next school year, would help parents navigate the often bewildering educational system and become effective activists. As for educators, she said, the sessions would help them recruit parent allies.

"The time is ripe in Maryland, and nationally, for parent involvement to be seen as the critical element that it is, not as an add-on," Grasmick said in a recent letter to education reporters.

Grasmick said the state also would begin to consider family involvement when it gives awards to principals, teachers and schools. And she said the department would redesign its Web site, http://www.marylandpublicschools.org , to make it more friendly to parents.

How parents affect the educational equation is a subject of debate. Some experts say rigorous academic programs and a quality teaching force are more important.

But it seems to be widely accepted that parents, guardians and other family members are vital to reaching and motivating students who have multiple academic hurdles as well as those who are high performers.

"My husband and I have three children," said Tonya Miles of Mitchellville, in Prince George's County. "We tell them they have one job: Go to school, and do well."

Miles, president of the Woodmore Elementary School PTA, served on the state's 125-member Parent Advisory Council from 2003 to 2005. She praised the state's move to implement the council's final report, which was issued in August.

"It makes a difference," Miles said. "This puts teeth into parent involvement, which is only spoken about in some school districts."

In another matter, Grasmick announced that Maryland had secured a three-year, $5.7 million federal grant to help develop systems to track individual student achievement over time. The first batch of funding will go toward improving information about special education students.

According to state education officials, nearly 60 percent of Maryland schools that failed to meet achievement standards under the federal No Child Left Behind act fell short because of stagnant test scores among disabled students.

Maryland was one of 14 states to receive federal funding for the "longitudinal data" project.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company