[quote=flu][quote=outtamojo][quote=ocrenter]I agree with flu. something’s off.
I’ve always been an advocate that San Marcos High is up and coming and I am happy to see the improvement.
But I really wonder about the number.
How in the world do they get 100% of the kids to take the AP test. someone has been tweeking their policies to maximize their ranking.[/quote]
100% participation? Hard to imagine ANY high school without a few stoners lol. That school ranked #8 in La Jolla has a 100% participation rate also, but with a 32% pass rate. I think if they SMHS were to do some culling the pass rate would be higher, but then again, shouldn’t your public schools make every possible attempt to at least expose the less gifted/disadvantaged kids to the higher echelons of academia?[/quote]
No it shouldn’t because AP is not a prerequisite for getting into college. It’s more like a “GATE” program than a required curriculum….At least that was when I went through the public education system.
In our AP classes..People that took AP classes passed with 3 or better near 90%… And it was simple why. The teacher of AP clases basically flunked everyone first (ok gave everyone a C based on the teaching program), and if you did a 4 or better would go back and retroactively update your grade based on how you did on your exam…That way, the first two weeks of class, people who couldn’t make the cut opted not to do the AP class.
But folks that didn’t take AP didn’t mean they didn’t get into college…
AP classes are just that….. “Advanced Placement”…
A school that reports 100% participation in an “Advanced Placement” is just ridiculous… Because not everyone is “advanced”…
and it’s funny that U.S. News and World Report forgot about this key concept..[/quote]
AP classes can be both a blessing and a curse. If a student tries an AP class they think they can do and then realizes they’re going to get a “D” in it after the first ten days, it is in the student’s best interest to drop the AP class and take the subject in a regular “college prep” A-G class.
An AP class only gives the student one extra point for each grade level (A=5 pts, B=4 pts and so on) as opposed to A=4 pts in a “mainstream” A-G HS class. If the kid is going to get a C or D in the AP class but can easily get an A or B in a mainstream class, then they will likely have a higher GPA (for college entrance purposes) by staying the course with the HS’s regular college-prep curriculum. In other words, why should a student agonize over all that extra work if it won’t actually improve their GPA? Don’t these students have enough to do for college entrance what with having to show participation for at least one season in a sport and 1-2 committees/clubs as well as perform 200 hrs community service, create a “senior portfolio” and take and pass the CAHSEE (HS exit exam)?
There’s hardly enough time in a day to accomplish all these things (except the sr portfolio) in the two years that COUNT for college admittance purposes (grades 10-11). May is a particularly brutal month in this regard :={
