March 7, 2017
OPEN LETTER TO: Denver School Board and
Staff
By Peter Huidekoper Jr.
Cc: College Board, Colorado Education
Initiative, Colorado Department of Education, A Plus Colorado
Here in March, high schools decide which classes to offer next year and
students try to sign up for the right courses, so I hope it is timely to make one
practical suggestion.
Drop the AP classes in those high schools in Denver where these courses
are a poor fit.
- If fewer than 20% of the students who take the AP tests did not score a 3 or better for three straight years, do not offer that class next fall. (See Manual, MLK Early College, etc. p. 3.)
- If fewer than 30% of the students who take the tests did not achieve at least a 3 for three years in a row (the score which the College Board “means that you have proven yourself capable of doing the work of an introductory-level course in a particular subject at college,” at the B-, C+, or C level[i]), re-examine this option. (See Abraham Lincoln, Bruce Randolph, and John Kennedy.) We all want rigor and relevance; AP classes aren’t the only solution. Good schools and teachers can design classes that better serve a large number of their students.
|
Responsibility
lies with DPS and CEI
I have no desire to
embarrass students who have taken AP classes and tests, or teachers who offer
these classes. I believe, though, that the numbers below tell a story that
should disturb the folks at Denver Public Schools[ii]
and at the Colorado Education Initiative[iii]
who have made this AP push for over five years. I do not hear anyone acknowledging that
these courses might not be the best way to support students who are far from
being “college ready.” I hear no one saying—we’ve tried this, we’ve seen where such courses are and are not proving helpful—and we realize now that, in our lowest performing schools, we
need a more creative and nimble response than more AP classes. (As if
merely offering such a “prestigious” so-called college-level class is good in
and of itself!)
I see no shame in not being
ready for a college-level class when in high school. Please note:
·
As I have written before, as a senior in high
school, I was not viewed as among the top students eligible for the most
rigorous English classes. The class I
took was no piece of cake! (Hamlet,
Lord Jim, Mayor Casterbridge, etc.)
·
When I taught AP Literature 30 years ago at a
New York private school, the course was not open to all seniors. Most were
ready for the challenge; my students were better readers and writers, as 12th
graders, than I had been at that age. And
yes, most of them scored a 3 or better.
·
When I now tutor with College Track and help several
AP students at Rangeview High, I find almost all are challenged but not in
over their heads with the rigor of these “college-level” English classes. I am glad they have the opportunity. For juniors and seniors like them,
expanding access to AP courses has been good.
But when the far majority of students in a
number of high schools are unable to score a 3 or better on the AP tests, I
am convinced we must, instead, create courses that better meet their needs
rather than stating that merely “taking an AP course”—whether you get a 3 or
better—has proved worthwhile. I find
no such proof. CEI used to make this
claim; schools like Delta High, part of CEI’s cohort 2, should stop making it[iv]. (See the
quote from Trevor Packard of the College Board, column --->.)
Denver Public Schools can
lead the way by seeing where this push has not succeeded and realizing that
it is not a step backwards to
withdraw AP courses from schools where it is a poor fit. When most 11th graders are not
achieving at grade level—as is the case in most DPS high schools[v]—it
can sound just, even noble, to say we “offer AP classes creates opportunities
for those who have been kept out of these classes in the past.” Or we can be honest
and humble enough to admit: when over 4 out of 5 do not pass the “final exam”
(if you will), it’s time to make a change.
A few examples. Does anyone call this success?
·
On the English
AP exams in 2016, of 60 students who took the test at Martin Luther King
Early College, 0% passed.
·
At DCIS Montbello, of 50 tested, 4% passed.
·
A total of 150 English AP tests were taken at Abraham
Lincoln, High Tech Early College and Manual High; only 8% passed at all three
schools.
·
On the History
and Social Sciences AP exams, at four small DPS high schools, not one of
the 100-plus students who took the AP test scored a 3. At DCIS at Montbello,
3% out of 92 passed. Out of the 79 students taking the exam at Abraham
Lincoln and the 88 students at MLK, 1% passed.
|
AP
Classes Failing Students
From
POLITICO – 8/21/2013
Enrollment in AP classes has soared. But data analyzed by POLITICO shows that
the number of kids who bomb the AP exams is growing even more rapidly.
The class of 2012, for instance, failed nearly 1.3 million AP exams during
their high school careers. That’s a lot of time and money down the drain; research shows that students don’t reap
any measurable benefit from AP classes unless they do well enough to pass the
$89 end-of-course exam.
In
its annual reports, the nonprofit College Board, which runs the Advanced
Placement program, emphasizes the positive… [However] Because so many
students now take more than one AP class, the overall pass rate dropped from
61 percent for the class of 2002 to 57 percent for the class of 2012.
Even more striking: The share of exams
that earned the lowest possible score jumped from 14 percent to 22 percent,
according to College Board data.
“Well-meaning policy makers encourage
Advanced Placement in order to set high expectations,” said Kristin Klopfenstein, an education
professor who has studied AP trends and now runs the Education Innovation Institute at the University of Northern
Colorado. “But their eagerness for expansion has gotten ahead of the
support systems in place for these kids.”
At least a dozen states now give schools
incentives to offer AP classes and fill them up with students….
[In
Colorado, 37 Legacy Schools are supported by the Colorado Education
Initiative. The effort includes cash incentives for students and teachers: http://www.denverpost.com/2012/10/17/cash-incentives-for-colorado-students-a-study-in-progress/]
Advanced Placement classes, available in
34 subjects from art history to calculus, are supposed to be taught at a
college level. The exams are graded on a scale of 1 to 5. The College Board considers 3 a passing
grade, though fully a third of the universities that grant college credit
for AP require a score of 4 or 5. …
Advocates often argue that students
benefit from being exposed to the high expectations of an AP class, even if
they don’t pass the test.
Yet there’s no proof that’s
true.
In fact, taking an AP class
does not lead to better grades in college, higher college graduation rates,
or any other tangible benefit — unless the student does
well enough to pass the AP test, said Trevor Packer, a senior vice president
at the College Board.
In the past, the College Board has pointed
to studies that found a correlation between taking an AP class, whatever the
outcome, and succeeding in college. Yet
that research was flawed because it didn’t control for other predictors of
college success, such as family income or high-school grades, Packer said.
More rigorous studies find benefits only for students who earn at least a 3
on the AP test.
That means, Packer said, that hundreds of thousands of students
enrolled in AP may be better served by lower-level classes that focus on
building foundational skills. “We have no interest in collecting exam fees,”
he said, “if the kids are not going to benefit.”
Those exam fees, however, continue to roll
in. The nonprofit College Board, which also runs the SAT, reported net assets
of $609 million at the end of fiscal year 2012, up from $491 million two
years earlier.
|
Here is a three-year
overview of AP results for most Denver high schools
(From DPS* - Assessment, Research &
Evaluation – AP Tests Taken/Passed by School)
|
|
2014
|
2014
|
2015
|
2015
|
2016
|
2016
|
|
|
# tested
|
% passed
|
# tested/
# passed
|
% passed
|
# tested
|
% passed
|
|
Denver School of Science &
Technology: Stapleton
|
190
|
73%
|
309/260
|
84%
|
259
|
89%
|
|
Denver School of the Arts
|
265
|
54%
|
537/352
|
66%
|
495
|
76%
|
|
East
|
998
|
57%
|
1988/1082
|
54%
|
1874
|
60%
|
|
Denver School of Science & Tech: Green
Valley Ranch
|
39
|
58%
|
139/89
|
64%
|
171
|
55%
|
|
KIPP Denver
Collegiate
|
85
|
48%
|
182/76
|
42%
|
214
|
53%
|
|
Denver Center for International Studies
|
140
|
53%
|
253/131
|
52%
|
289
|
50%
|
|
South
|
152
|
31%
|
541/178
|
33%
|
528
|
43%
|
|
Thomas Jefferson
|
201
|
35%
|
416/165
|
40%
|
495
|
42%
|
|
North
|
55
|
24%
|
215/76
|
35%
|
172
|
41%
|
|
West Leadership
Academy
|
X
|
x
|
27/1
|
1%
|
101
|
41%
|
|
High-Tech Early College
|
X
|
x
|
213/40
|
19%
|
121
|
36%
|
|
STRIVE Prep – SMART Academy
|
112
|
81%
|
266/155
|
58%
|
333
|
31%
|
|
In the following four schools … less
than 30% of tests taken scored at 3 or above in 2016
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Noel Community Arts
|
X
|
x
|
85/19
|
22%
|
111
|
28%
|
|
John Kennedy
|
36
|
21%
|
173/41
|
24%
|
199
|
27%
|
|
George Washington
|
148
|
31%
|
344/105
|
31%
|
452
|
27%
|
|
Bruce Randolph H.S. (6-12)
|
36
|
26%
|
157/36
|
23%
|
153
|
24%
|
|
In these four
… less than 20% of tests taken scored
at 3 or above in 2016
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Abraham
Lincoln
|
107
|
23%
|
493/97
|
20%
|
365
|
19%
|
|
Manual H.S.
|
2
|
2%
|
82/8
|
10%
|
80
|
19%
|
|
Collegiate Prep
|
42
|
0%
|
59/4
|
7%
|
118
|
19%
|
|
DCIS at Montbello
|
21
|
22%
|
179/19
|
11%
|
174
|
10%
|
|
In these five … less than 10% of tests taken scored
at 3 or above in 2016
|
|
|
|
|
||
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Martin Luther King Early College
|
55
|
13%
|
221/31
|
14%
|
233
|
6%
|
|
Kunsmiller Creative Arts
|
16
|
25%
|
18/0
|
0%
|
42
|
5%
|
|
Venture Prep
|
56
|
0
|
35/4
|
11%
|
49
|
2%
|
|
Summit Academy
|
7
|
0
|
11/0
|
0%
|
3
|
0%
|
|
Montbello
|
32
|
30%
|
closed
|
x
|
x
|
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KUDOS to DPS
for being transparent about and publishing the school by school AP results each
year.
If the “passing rate” looks low
at under 30% or under 20%, imagine what it would be if these schools did not
have many students doing well on the Spanish AP, scoring a 3 or better. One example:
Abraham Lincoln. In 2016, 58% of students at Abraham Lincoln taking the Spanish AP
passed. But only 8% of 78 students taking an AP test in English passed, and 5% of 127 students taking AP tests in STEM
classes passed, and only 1% of the
78 students taking an AP exam in History and Social Sciences passed.
|
Overall, less than 30% scored a 3 or
above
|
#Tested - # Passed in AP tests in these categories
|
|||
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|
World
Language & Culture
|
English
|
STEM (math,
science, engineering, etc.[vi])
|
History
& Social Science
|
|
Noel Community Arts
|
23 96%
|
28 7%
|
1 *
|
47 4%
|
|
John Kennedy
|
28 96%
|
11 *
|
35 17%
|
117 10%
|
|
George Washington
|
33 79%
|
132 18%
|
142 21%
|
107 20%
|
|
Bruce Randolph H.S. (6-12)
|
35 63%
|
61 13%
|
17 24%
|
40 8%
|
|
Overall less than 20% scored a 3 or
above
|
|
|
|
|
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Abraham
Lincoln
|
55 58%
|
78 8%
|
127 5%
|
79 1%
|
|
Manual H.S.
|
17 59%
|
37 8%
|
8 *
|
18 6%
|
|
Collegiate Prep
|
22 86%
|
71 6%
|
x
|
25 0%
|
|
DCIS at Montbello
|
9 *
|
50 4%
|
23 17%
|
92 3%
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Colorado Education Initiative - Aurora Central and Abraham Lincoln
My central criticism of CEI’s AP effort, other than its lack of
transparency, has been in its choice of schools. News articles and press releases from CEI have
celebrated success in high schools like Arvada West in Jefferson County, Glenwood
Springs in Roaring Fork, and Thomas Jefferson in DPS. All great stories. Congratulations! But in Denver what works for
Thomas Jefferson might not be best for Abraham Lincoln, and in Aurora Public
Schools, what helps Rangeview might actually hurt Aurora Central. CEI’s first cohort
included these two chronically low-performing high schools. I began to challenge this development four
years ago. (AV#95 - Mismatch- Adding
More AP classes in low-performing high schools- March 2013; AV#114 - Questions continue on rationale for more AP classes in our lowest-performing
high schools - June 2014.) Today, simply
asking questions is not enough. Thus my proposal.
The three-year support for CEI’s AP push in these two schools
(2012-2013 to 2014-15) ended almost two years ago. A report from CEI on whether the AP initiative
helped these schools is beyond overdue.
Aurora Central: Aurora
Public Schools stopped releasing school-by-school AP scores after 2013.[vii]
What we do know is that Aurora Central High now approaches year 6 as a school
on Priority Improvement / Turnaround
and hence is a candidate for closure by the state. Would anyone now claim this was a school,
with its myriad challenges, where adding AP classes was a good use of
everyone’s time?
Abraham Lincoln: CEI’s focus
is AP math, science and English; the results I have tracked for years make it
clear the effort at Abraham Lincoln has failed (Addendum A). DPS now lists Abraham
Lincoln as a school on Priority Watch and
as one of the schools it might close for poor performance.[viii]
Colorado’s Unified Improvement
Plan for Schools for 2015-16 – And a look at the most recent UIP by
|
Other states have made this mistake
Across Maryland, more minority and
low-income students, who were targeted in a nationwide expansion of the
rigorous college-level courses, have been funneled into Advanced Placement
classes, but their success rate has been low. Failure rates of 75 percent are not uncommon in schools with high
percentages of low-income and minority students….
In Maryland, students who haven't been
prepared in earlier grades flounder in AP classes, or are awarded A's and B's
in the courses and then fail the national exam. In more than a dozen schools in the region last year, about
half of students who had earned high grades at their schools failed the exam.
No
research exists to show that taking the class and failing the exam leaves
students better prepared for college.
|
these two schools—written at the
end of the three-years of CEI’s support—suggests how little the AP initiative
meant to them. I scroll through Abraham
Lincoln’s 45-page UIP[ix],
and the 32 page-UIP for ACHS[x]. I cannot find a word about AP–the scores, the
benefits, or any thoughts as to whether AP offerings will be a part of the
school’s improvement efforts the following year. Not a word.
No surprise, really. Anyone who understood
the trials and tribulations of these two schools should have been able to
predict they had more important priorities. (See Addendum B.)
This is where those of us on the
outside—the central office at DPS, or CEI, or funders with more money than
wisdom--must realize our so-called help can create unnecessary distractions for
schools that seek to improve academic achievement for their low-performing student
body. Having worked at a foundation
where I once thought we had the best
ideas on just what would help 10 Colorado high schools (and Abraham Lincoln
was one of the 10! - 1990-1992), I was guilty of this arrogance. I only wish more of us could learn this
lesson before we keep making the same mistake, again and again and again.
Schools like Abraham Lincoln and
Aurora Central desperately need to change and improve.
We make mistakes; the AP
push has been one of them. Let’s own up
to it and focus on what can truly help.
Addendum
A - Abraham Lincoln High School
(Insanity:
“doing
something over and over again and expecting a
different result.”) )
AP Tests in MSE*
passed – from DPS Accountability, Research & Evaluation
*MSE = Math,
Science, and English courses – the focus of CEI’s AP Initiative
(For 2016 DPS changed the
way it presented results. We find results
for all STEM tests and all English tests—see page 3—but no breakdown by the
specific test/course.)
|
|
2012 – BEFORE CEI AP INITIATIVE
|
2013 – First year of CEI AP INITIATIVE
|
2014 – 2nd year of CEI AP INITIATIVE
|
2015 – 3rd year of CEI AP Initiative
|
||||||||
|
|
N tested
|
N passed
|
%
|
N tested
|
N passed
|
%
|
N tested
|
N passed
|
%
|
N tested
|
N passed
|
%
|
|
Biology
|
8
|
*
|
*
|
8
|
*
|
*
|
13
|
*
|
*
|
33
|
3
|
9%
|
|
Calculus AB
|
29
|
2
|
7%
|
26
|
1
|
4%
|
35
|
13
|
37%
|
38
|
8
|
21%
|
|
Chemistry
|
0
|
*
|
*
|
11
|
*
|
*
|
9
|
*
|
*
|
11
|
*
|
*
|
|
Computer
Science A
|
13
|
|
|
11
|
*
|
*
|
9
|
*
|
*
|
8
|
*
|
*
|
|
Eng. Language & Composition
|
77
|
4
|
5%
|
75
|
3
|
4%
|
86
|
3
|
3%
|
53
|
1
|
2%
|
|
Eng. Literature & Composition
|
37
|
4
|
11%
|
49
|
2
|
4%
|
37
|
0
|
0%
|
28
|
4
|
14%
|
|
Environmental Science
|
0
|
*
|
*
|
|
|
|
13
|
*
|
*
|
15
|
*
|
*
|
|
Physics B
|
24
|
0
|
0%
|
37
|
1
|
3%
|
18
|
3
|
17%
|
31***
|
2
|
6%
|
|
Physics 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
*
|
*
|
|
Statistics
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7
|
*
|
*
|
11
|
*
|
*
|
|
|
167**
|
10
|
6%
|
187**
|
7
|
3%
|
176**
|
19
|
11%
|
183**
|
18
|
10%
|
*
Scores not reported for groups with fewer than 16 students
** Total of tests taken where # passed is available
***Now called Physics 1.
Addendum B - Abraham Lincoln and Aurora Central: ACT scores
and remediation rates
Indicators these
schools should have higher priorities than more AP classes
|
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
|
|
|
|
Remediation rates*
|
|
|
||
|
Abraham
Lincoln High School
|
65%
|
63%
|
58%
|
|
|
|
Aurora
Central High School
|
68%
|
61%
|
63%
|
|
|
|
|
|
ACT scores**
|
|||
|
|
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
|
Abraham
Lincoln High School
|
|
15.6
|
16
|
14.8
|
16.4
|
|
Aurora
Central High School
|
|
15
|
15.2
|
15.1
|
15.9
|
* http://highered.colorado.gov/Publications/Reports/Remedial/FY2015/2015_Remedial_relMay2016.pdf
2016
– Chalkbeat Colorado http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2016/08/11/find-your-colorado-schools-2016-act-and-psat-scores/
Remediation rates/ACT/PARCC
scores at other DPS high schools with poor AP scores
Remediation rates (2014): Manual
– 76%; Bruce Randolph -75%; MLK Early College – 48%.
ACT scores (2016): Manual –
16.3; Bruce Randolph 15.8%; MLK Early College – 16.3%.
A better answer than AP? -
Such rates and scores lead one to applaud efforts in DPS such as we read about
here - http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2015/08/05/data-from-act-and-dps-shows-that-hispanic-students-arent-college-ready/.
ENDNOTES
[ii] “Denver schools push for students to take tougher
courses,” by Jeremy P. Meyer, The Denver
Post, 10/05/2010, “Denver Public Schools is on a blitz this month to
encourage more students to be like Sanchez, touting the increased number of
students taking Advanced Placement courses and concurrent college classes.”
[iii] Colorado Education Initiative “goal is to enroll 30,000 new high school students in AP
math, science, and English courses by 2017.”
CEI began
its Colorado Legacy School program in 2011-2012. “Our
Colorado Legacy Schools (CLS) initiative works with 37 high schools across the
state to dramatically increase the number and diversity of Colorado high school
students who are succeeding in AP math, science, and English courses —
especially students typically underrepresented in AP courses such as females,
and students of poverty and color.” http://www.coloradoedinitiative.org/our-work/colorado-legacy-schools/
[iv]CEI made this assertion itself several years ago; I
quoted from it in AV#95. “At its web site the Colorado Legacy Foundation
answers the question ‘Why AP?’: ‘A high school student who passes just one AP
exam has a 72% chance of graduating from college, compared to a 30% chance
without AP. In fact, students who take
an AP course but do not receive a passing score on the AP exam are still 24%
more likely to graduate from college than their peers who have not engaged in
AP coursework.’” This statement no
longer appears on CEI’s website. But
Delta High School still uses this quote on its website for ‘Why A.P.?’; see http://dhs.deltaschools.com/advanced-placement.php.
[v]2015 PARCC results – DPS 11th graders
proficient in English: less than 36%.
- Abraham Lincoln High 11th
graders proficient in English: 7.6%.
[vi]
DPS explains to me that STEM tests include Biology,
Calculus AB and BC, Chemistry, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Physics 1 and 2
(which replaces Physics B from 2014 and earlier), Physics C (Electricity and
Magnetism, and Mechanics), and Statistics.
[vii]AV#137 – “Up until 2013 Aurora Public Schools released
results on the AP tests at its high schools.
But as of a year ago March, the APS Division of Accountability and
Research told me ‘our office doesn’t do the AP report any longer.’” In March 2017, still true.
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