By Michelle McKenna
Staff Writer
During their Sept. 21 meeting, the Manhattan Beach Unified School District board members reviewed and analyzed the Advanced Placement test scores and results from spring 2011, which were released by the College Board in August.
In the 2009-10 school year, of the 1,165 Costa students who took an exam, about 75% scored a three or higher, which is a passing score. During the 2010-11 school year, 1,144 of the 1,468 students, which is roughly 80%, who took AP exams achieved scores of three or higher.
“The AP scores are always high,” Costa Principal Ben Dale said. “We have high performers, which is awesome. There’s no radical change with the scores this year.”
Between the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years, the number of students taking AP classes increased by 116, with a large increase in various AP sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes.
“I’m really pleased that we’re seeing students’ interest has grown in participating in STEM AP classes,” MBUSD Executive Director of Educational Services Carolyn Seaton said. “This shows motivation.”
Beginning in the 2012-13 school year, the College Board will implement new curriculums to AP classes. These changes will reduce the amount of content taught in AP classes; however, what will be taught in class will be covered in more depth.
“What I’ve heard about [cutting content for AP classes], I really do not like,” said Costa AP US History teacher Bill Fauver. “It’s much too sophisticated, based on the thematic approach. It’s too hard to implement for most kids. It’s too much detail. To me, the solution that is right for high school students would be to split the AP courses into two years, allowing for both content and detail.”
According to Dale, College Board’s AP system feels challenged by the International Baccalaureate program, a newer system that also prepares students for college-level courses, because colleges weigh IB the same as AP. IB requires less breadth, but more depth, which is an approach that College Board will be trying to move toward with its changes to AP curriculum.
According to MBUSD board members, the changes to AP curriculum will limit criticisms about lack of depth in teaching.
“My guess is the changes [to the AP program] are going to be better, if they meet their goals,” Seaton said. “A lot of the time, we get criticized in education for trying to teach a whole lot in a short time, but without much depth. To me, real learning happens when you can go in depth with a subject and make a lot of connections to see things from multiple perspectives.”
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