When I was in high school — and I didn’t go to a particularly stellar high school by the way — it was pretty much understood that it was crucial to take as many Advanced Placement (AP) classes and corresponding AP tests as possible. Those AP test would not only look great on a college application, oftentimes they would be credited toward college classes as well.
With all the cuts to the education budget, less publicized than threats to elementary class size and the closure of neighborhood schools are the very real cuts to funding for AP exams. Previously, AP exams were offered to students who who qualified for free and reduced lunches at only $5 per exam, a huge discount from the current rate of $86 per exam.
While $86 per exam may not seem like a bit deal, it is for families from the lower end of the socio-economic scale.
From what I understand, AUSD has had to cut the funding for this program of underwriting the cost of these exams for students and, no surprise, this is impacting Encinal High severely. Not only is there no money to underwrite the cost of exams this year, there has been a request on the district level that Encinal reimburse the District $17,000 for the cost of last year’s exams.
While I am sure that this will have some impact at Alameda High, given the demographics at Encinal High, I imagine that the impacts will be much more significant and much more profound.
Last year, 200 of the 411 AP exams taken by Encinal students were underwritten with a similar number being needed this year to be underwritten. Encinal has a great track record of educating Alameda children that may not be as privileged as most, in fact seven of the top ten students came from low income families last year.
It’s these sort of opportunities that our schools should be providing for students, but with this budget cut the gap will widen further between the haves and the haves nots. AP exams while not the only criteria that is used in college admissions, surely makes a rather huge impact.
While I understand that cuts are necessary to balance out the budget, surely cuts like these can and should be avoided. When the school district talks about issues of excellence and equity, these are precisely the sorts of budget items that encourage both excellence and equity. Equity, of course, does not mean all things being equally divided, but rather providing resources that will allow those without those resources to be able to have access to the same educational opportunities.
To bridge this budget gap, Encinal is holding three fundraisers at Otaez called “Eat Smart.” From the EHS website:
EHS will be sponsoring 3 “Eat Smart” nights at Otaez on Webster Street. 20% of all proceeds (when flyer is submitted) will be donated to EHS. Come out and have a great meal and support our AP students on the following Wednesdays: March 10th, March 17th, and March 24th.
Please also keep in mind that really diligent students usually take about 3 AP courses per year. 3 x $86 for some families is just impossible. This is money that can also be really well spent when you consider how much college tuition is saved by the student who does well on them. Many colleges will give you credit for the class if you receive a 4 or 5 on the exam. Since many of these young people are headed into our UC/CSU system and we could use a few seats for the people who really need those courses, it makes sense to do this from every aspect.
When you consider that one of last years top 10 at EHS was in the foster care system and a few this year have parents who never graduated from high school it is so great to see education work. These kids were given the opportunity to learn and make a better life and they took it.
Once again the state mandates a budget from the district, then doesn’t fully fund their end and finally cuts stuff mid-year and this is what happens. I certainly don’t blame the district for not having the money for this program as they were not told to plan for it. That being said we need to make these tests happen for these kids!
Comment by Barbara M — February 23, 2010 @ 7:11 am
It’s a sad commentary on our times that so much money is directed at society’s ills that nothing is left for advancing its assets. Talk about getting 86′d!
Comment by Denise Shelton — February 23, 2010 @ 8:03 am
There recently was an article in the Chron about a documentary ‘Race to Nowhere’ (www.racetonowhere.com). I have yet to see the documentary, but its food for thought.
I am watching my daughter and her friends completely stressed out by their AP classes, wondering why we do this to them, as a society.
Still, the disparity of funding stopping kids from taking the AP test does not seem fair, I agree.
Comment by Jill — February 23, 2010 @ 8:30 am
This baloney that all high school kids should go to college is just that, baloney. No way should tax money be used to teach kids how to take an exam. High schools aren’t teaching kids well enough in the basic essentials. Sixty + percent of college bound kids must take remedial courses just to do freshman college level work.
A good portion of these kids should look elsewhere for further education. There are other avenues.
Comment by Jack Richard — February 23, 2010 @ 9:14 am
So Jack let me get this straight. Some kid from a very poor family but has a GPA of 4.33 and has never received a B and has taken every challenging class offered doesn’t deserve to take a test that will rank them in with my kid because I can afford it?
The test doesn’t teach you how to take an exam it is a test if what you learned in the class is at College level.
Comment by Barbara M — February 23, 2010 @ 1:06 pm
AP classes are great, you spend 86 dollars on a test in high school and can save an entire semester’s worth of tuition, if you play your cards right.
Comment by E — February 23, 2010 @ 4:52 pm
5
So Barbara, you’re telling me that a kid who has a 4.33 GPA through all the toughest courses in high school can’t get into college unless he takes AP tests?
If that’s the case, I’d be in favor of a class action suit that would put every high school administrator in this state in the docket to explain how that could happen.
Plus, if this kid can’t find a way to earn enough money to afford an 86 dollar test, he doesn’t belong in college. He’d be better off joining the military service and really learn something. I’m not being snarky, I’ve done both and know enough that kid with a 4.33 GPA could write his own ticket in the service.
Comment by Jack Richard — February 23, 2010 @ 5:49 pm
Jack, the kid with a 4.33 will have a better chance at getting into UC Berkeley or Stanford with the AP exam. There are many students with very high GPAs who do not get into those schools. Not to say that there aren’t other colleges that would accept such a student without any AP classes, but without the classes and exams he/she is at a serious disadvantage for all of the more competitive universities.
Comment by Kevis Brownson — February 24, 2010 @ 1:00 am
Jack, the kid that was valedictorian last year was in the foster care system and received a full ride scholarship to Brown and wants to be a doctor someday. He taught himself classical piano and before he came to Alameda got himself 20 miles each way to school so he wouldn’t have to go to the trashy school district he was in (this is a kid in jr. high). Should he have just become a mechanic and been grateful he didn’t end up a gang banger or will we all benefit from someone with that kind of drive making medical advances? I will grant you he is a special kid and not all kids will rise to where he is going but if they graduate from college they are much more likely to have a job that will afford them to pay for their children.
One hears all the time about “ending the cycle”. I don’t know if you can end the cycle for an adult but education is everyones chance. If you have a disadvantaged kid who gets how important an education is and we all help just a little it will end at that generation.
There is a wonderful program at UC Berkeley adn UCLA called the Incentive Awards Program. It is a full ride to that school if you are the lucky one. First you would have to qualify academically just like all other students admitted but it is given to those that there is no way on earth they could afford to go. I have attended the awards dinner a couple of times and let me tell you if you want to feel like a slacker sit next to a 22 year old who just graduated from one of the best colleges in the country and lived a life we watch on TV. He watched his brother and cousin get shot on the street in front of their house when he was 17, lived in 20+ places before he graduated from high school. He remembered eating Thanksgiving at Glide 5 times as a kid because they didn’t have working kitchens at those places and/or couldn’t afford the turkey. Isn’t it worth a couple of checks for $86 bucks to get that kid where he is today? He is goes to the high school he graduated from and talks to the kids about ways to get things like this scholarship and how much better his life is. The plan according to him is to pay 10% of every cent he ever earns to make sure other kids get to have a way out like he did.
Comment by Barbara M — February 24, 2010 @ 5:56 am
Has the state reduced funding for this program or the district has cut the funding mid-year? If the state has cut the funding, then the district has only two choices, either pass the cut to the schools or keep funding the AP program and make cuts some where else.
Comment by AUSD Parent — February 24, 2010 @ 7:44 am
Sorry Kevis/Barbara, but neither Cal Berkeley nor Stanford are the, be all end all of schools. Sure they may have decent tools for learning but it still depends on the kid how those tools are utilized. Many people think that going to a big name school guarantees success. You know as well as I that it’s the kid not the school that determines whether or not success is achieved.
Diplomas from Cal aren’t worth the paper they’re written unless the kid utilizes the tools and understands what they really should be trying to achieve while they’re in college. College is just a way-station. A place for understanding that learning and educating oneself is a lifelong endeavor. The college experience, if successful for a kid, makes him/her understand that lifelong learning can be a joy instead of a burden.
This business of jockeying for placement and high test results in order to score a name college, to my mind, belittles and diminishes the whole process of education.
Comment by Jack Richard — February 24, 2010 @ 9:08 am
Jack I agree with you that the big name college is not necessarily important to eventual success. But AP tests are a part of the evaluation process for college in general. Are you really saying that only those that can afford to pay for the exams should have this advantage toward attempting to gain admission to a college or university of their choice?
I seem to remember though that for the SAT tests there is a way to get a fee waiver for hardship from the company that administers the tests. Is this not true of AP? It is the same company– Barbara, maybe you know.
Comment by Kevis Brownson — February 25, 2010 @ 12:34 am
Sorry Kevis, but to me this whole AP business is just that, a business. It’s a sad commentary on the state of high school education when an AP cottage industry has to spring up to do what high schools are supposed to be doing.
Maybe we should just eliminate public high schools, since it seems they can’t do the job, and hire the private sector to satisfy both college entrance requirements and basic education.
I went to a catholic high school and the nuns would turn over in their habits if they thought they weren’t teaching well enough to get kids into college.
Comment by Jack Richard — February 25, 2010 @ 9:04 am
I think the the advanced courses are important, though I could do without the standardized tests. Perhaps there could be more “honors” or accelerated courses that did not focus on the AP exam.
My daughter took several AP courses at AHS. She really benefited from being in the more advanced classes, with accelerated, in-depth learning and the greater competition.
One thing I didn’t like: the AP classes usually ran out of steam after the exams. Most of my daughter’s exams were given the first week in May. School went on for more than a month. It seemed like a waste of very talented students and teachers.
I think the value of the tests is debatable. If the schools are going to focus on numbers, on test scores, during the admissions process, they already have other sources of information. As it turned out, my daughter got college credit for only one of her AP tests, because her university’s policy was to award credit for tests in only the math and science areas.
So if I had a vote, it would be for more accelerated and “honors” courses, especially ones that emphasize oral and written communication. Students have the option to take the AP exams on their own.
Comment by CMS — February 28, 2010 @ 7:59 pm