Inside Higher Ed reports today about a new Stanford study that questions the validity of common claims in favor of Advanced Placement courses in high school. The biggest argument is about the claim that “The AP program gives students several advantages in terms of college.” In questioning that largely accepted and unquestioned truism, the study employs the classic “chicken/egg” argument. Do AP courses enhance students’ ability to succeed in college or are students who sign-up for AP courses already motivated, skilled at studying, know how to work, and have the basic intelligence to excel in school?
Personally, I’ve always been a bit skeptical about the idea of an AP course being the equivalent of and hence replacing a college course, which is a different matter. I’m also suspicious of the use of the number of AP courses being used to judge the quality of a school. The article provides some examples of where AP programs were plopped in schools, for instance my home town of Detroit, with no success because there was no planning, training, or support for students or teachers . . . with little to no success. When will education stop looking for quick and easy panaceas, whether they be trendy pedagogies or shiny new technology, and realize that true “reform” will come when the time and resources are provided to sufficiently train and support teachers, and when time and resources are provided to allow teachers to plan and grade and to work with small numbers of students and to get to know students?