Due to its narrowly-scoped curriculum and inability to adequately prepare students for Advanced Placement English Literature, AP English Language and Composition will not benefit students who would prospectively take both classes and should not be implemented as an option for juniors to take in place of English 11 at Costa in the 2014-15 school year.
The AP English Language and Composition course focuses on helping students develop their reading and writing skills to better understand language. At the Jan. 22 Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board meeting, MBUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews proposed expanding AP course offerings to include AP English Language. Six teachers from Costa’s English Department spoke against the potential implementation of AP Language.
AP English Language will not meet the new standards that come with the implementation of Common Core at Costa, which requires students to learn American literature. Current junior English classes meet these standards and enable students to gain a greater depth of understanding of American works and expose students to an extremely influential time period. Additionally, Costa could see a drop in test scores if juniors were to take an alternate English course because American Literature is on the standardized test.
AP English Language and Composition focuses primarily on nonfiction which, according to English teacher Shawn Chen, does not promote the necessary analytic skills for AP English Literature the following year. According to English teacher Bradi Everett, AP English Language’s curriculum is not comparable to that of a college English course. This disparity between an AP and a college curriculum is not beneficial to students’ overall knowledge and does not prepare them for the future.
According to English Department Chair Alan Zeoli, Costa’s success on the AP English Literature exam will decrease from its current 90% pass rate if students decide to take the class after replacing Honors English with AP English Language. According to Matthews, the district aims to promote more students to pass at least one AP class during their high school career; therefore, AP classes should not be added if the course has a potential to decrease the pass rate of another AP class.
Chen also stated that skills learned in AP Language are already taught to students throughout their elementary, middle and high school careers; therefore, AP Language is not necessary to further students’ knowledge of English. The AP Language exam is offered by Costa, giving students the opportunity to take the test without enrolling in the class. Chen offers study sessions primarily to review for the AP Language exam to any student interested, which renders the AP Language course unnecessary, as students can still receive college credit if they pass the AP test.
According to Matthews, the Board will take the English Department’s concern into consideration when voting on new courses. The Board should not promote AP Language, as this class may hinder students’ success if taken in preparation for other AP English courses.
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