Advancing their placements

When Elisa Bock was in high school in Dallas, Texas, she decided to enroll in advanced-placement classes because she thought AP courses offered a challenge and could help her improve her class rank. By the time Bock graduated from Hillcrest High School, she had completed calculus AB, chemistry, English language and composition and European history at the AP level. Taking advanced classes in high school helped Bock gain more than a GPA boost: “I will graduate a year early because of my AP classes,” she says.
More than 700,000 students in the United States take Advanced Placement classes each year. According to the College Board, which has run the program since 1956, that number is growing.
Some benefits are obvious: AP classes on a transcript can raise students’ chances for college admission. Successful grades or test scores can translate into scholarships. Students can often bypass introductory seminar classes, get a head start on their majors and some times even graduate early. But critics say that AP courses were never meant to shorten time in college, and that students who bypass college classes are shortchanging themselves.

How it works
The Association of American Colleges and Universities recently released a study on college-level learning in high school. The association polled 451 two- and four-year colleges and universities nationwide; the results were collected and analyzed by the University at Buffalo Learning Productivity Network. The study divided college-level learning into three categories: examination based, school based and college based. AP classes are an example of exam-based learning because students have the option to take a test for college credit at the end of the school year. Scores ranging from one (“no recommendation”) to five (“extremely well qualified”) show how well students have grasped a subject by performance on that single test. School-based learning is when students earn college credit for certain classes taught by specific teachers. The teachers and course syllabi are screened by associated colleges, and the class, often known as concurrent or dual enrollment, can be one that is regularly offered at the high school or a course that’s imported specifically for the program. College-based learning refers to programs through which students leave high school and attend classes at a designated college. Students who participate in these programs learn alongside college students in classes taught by college professors.

What the survey says
The study noted five major themes for supporting college-level learning in high school, including the rising costs of higher education and the increasing competition for college admission among competitive high school students. “There is a greater premium on providing the admissions committees of selective colleges and universities some evidence of both academic preparedness and ambition,” the study says. “To many students, parents and high school guidance counselors, college-level learning in high school—especially AP, which has the advantage of familiarity and some seeming comparability—serves that purpose.” The study partly concluded that, “in general, college-based programs are considerably more acceptable, especially to four-year institutions, than are the school-based programs.” The AP program is definitely popular: In the 1998-99 school year, the College Board says about 1,150,000 AP tests were taken by roughly 704,000 students. Students can take AP classes in 18 subject areas and typically need a score of three or higher to earn college credit for the course. But while some schools may recognize AP work, 3 percent said they won’t grant credit toward a degree from AP scores, and 4 percent said that a good AP score doesn’t mean students won’t have to take general-education or major courses. Some critics say that because AP courses cover material likely to be on the test, students miss the chance to study some topics in depth. But some students say they’re challenged enough by their AP classes. Kristen Telker, a senior at Syracuse University, took AP Spanish at her Milford, Conn., high school and bypassed eight credits of beginning Spanish because of her exam credit. Telker took the classes because of her interest in learning other languages and her belief that she would be able to speak the language. “Honestly, the AP class was the hardest class I took all throughout high school but was definitely the most rewarding,” she says. Telker stuck with Spanish in college and ended up studying abroad in Madrid. Because of varying policies concerning AP and early college credit, what may transfer to one school could be ignored by another. Your student should ask about credit-transfer policies at the schools they’re considering. Loading up on AP or dual-enrollment classes to be denied credit can be a painful experience and a waste of time. Finding a program that works with the chosen school, though, can enrich both high school and college experiences. “I was dually enrolled in my high school and the University of Missouri-St. Louis,” says Becky Bayer, a recent graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia. “On entering college, I had already acquired 28 credits—almost two full semesters. That gave me lots of options, including graduating a year early, which I considered for a while.” After deciding she liked college and her friends too much to leave early, Bayer opted to stick around and earn a double minor. She plans to graduate in the normal eight semesters, but her AP classes in high school still helped her in college. The credit she brought with her to school allowed her to take “lots of fun electives that I wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to take—and still graduate on time.”

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