Retroactive loss of high school credit for "problem" AP course

[Greta]

JHS, I like your analysis. And really, class rank should be a non-issue at this point. Class rankings, other than in broad general terms like top 10% of the senior class, are really meaningless among the top competitive students. A ranking can reflect a student’s intelligence and work ethic but it also reflects the luck of the draw in teacher assignments and class scheduling at many schools. That this AP issue is important to the OP because of class rankings gives a lot of credence to the idea that more schools should abandon the whole concept of class rank, vals, sals, and whatever. Being a valedictorian (and I was one) is really meaningless, especially if the separation between students is dependent on whether or not one senior class grade is weighted or un-weighted. No one should care about class rank at this point in their senior year. (Not to slight all the new or expectant valedictorians out there, but really, most of you were just a little luckier than #2. I know I was.)

[nngmm]

I doubt that ANYTHING short of failing a class or getting a criminal record would have any effect on the college acceptance outcome for this year's seniors at this point in time.

[TimeCruncher]

To huguenot: Thank you for your post.

The AP audit process is riddled with controversy. On one hand, teachers whose instructional methods are effective and result in high student performance are justified in resenting a process by which their instructional methods are scrutinized and criticized by the CollegeBoard. On the other hand, colleges which consider the rigor of applicants’ high school education for admissions and merit scholarship award purposes, and which award incoming freshmen college course credit and/or advanced placement based upon AP exam scores, are justified in expecting a reasonable degree of AP Program uniformity with regard to academic rigor. Colleges need to know that Applicants A and B, who graduated from different high schools in different states, and who both earned the same grade in the same AP course, have received the same quality of instruction. I think the AP exam itself is an appropriate and acceptable indicator of a student’s mastery (or lack thereof) of college-level material. Apparently, the CollegeBoard considers it justifiable to dig deeper--beyond AP exam scores and into AP classrooms.

As you suggested, the AP audit might be the first step in creating a national curriculum for top students; your suggestion seems plausible, disturbing, and a cause for concern.

To JHS: Thank you for crunching those numbers. (Math is not my strong suit.)

First, I assure you that my daughter and I have no intention of rushing off to court, but we would do so if necessary, and we wouldn’t be doing it by ourselves; we would be with eighty-nine other students (and their parents), and we‘d be taken seriously. (This district has been sued before.) Right now, I’m just gathering information and seeing which options are available. It’s inappropriate for me to plan a course of action until this situation is resolved, and I see how my daughter and her classmates are impacted.

Second, given the competitiveness and exceptionally high academic achievement at my daughter’s high school, many of the currently highest-ranking ninety students are within hundredths of a GPA point from one another. Retroactive loss of a full GPA point would result in a significant ranking re-shuffle among these ninety students, and--as I explained in my Post #28--many of these students could become outranked by high-achievers currently ranked below the current top ninety students. It’s that close.

Third, in my state, high school GPA and ranking are key factors for admission to the public university system, and especially to its top-tier schools. Admission is provisional. Competition for admission to these top-tier schools is brutal, and the system is quick to revoke admission for students with college application-high school transcript discrepancies, or whose final transcript reveals a lowered GPA, or a drop in class ranking. Public university-issued merit scholarships can be revoked for the same reasons. In my state, It Happens.

[foolishpleasure]

Agree w/ MidwestMona and JHS - - it's unfair, but not a real big problem (even if gpa and rank are factors for some scholarships).

You're splitting hairs - this is not the sort of "drop" in gpa that would cause a college to w/d offer of admission. And if any adcom questions the .33 dip in grades or the absence of "AP" designation on the transcript, you have a moer than satisfactory explanation.

[TimeCruncher]

I am posting to let you know that my daughter’s AP U.S. Government course has just been approved by the CollegeBoard.

Since Monday morning (April 14th), I have repeatedly checked the CollegeBoard’s apcourseaudit link mentioned by patsmom (Post #5) and provided by arjgn (Post #8). Early this morning (April 16th), AP U.S. Government finally appeared on the CollegeBoard’s AP Course Ledger of Authorized 2007-2008 AP Courses for my daughter’s school.

The AP “problem” has been satisfactorily resolved, and my daughter and I are tremendously relieved.

I want to thank those of you who responded to my Original Post with helpful comments and useful information. Your help and information have been invaluable and greatly appreciated. This is what CC is all about.

This thread has branched off into a discussion of the AP audit process itself, so if anyone has already posted or is interested in posting about this issue (or about the issue of retroactively decertified/de-weighted high school courses), please do so. I will continue to keep an eye on this thread, and post as appropriate.

P.S. I must correct an unintentionally misleading statement I made in the sixth paragraph of my Post #33, in which I wrote in response to JHS‘s Post #30, “Retroactive loss of a full GPA point would result in a significant ranking re-shuffle….” That statement is misleading, because it implies that if the course at issue were decertified and de-weighted, then each affected student’s overall grade point average would drop a full point (which obviously would not occur). I meant to say, intended to say, and therefore should have said: “Retroactive loss of a full grade point for the course at issue would result in a significant ranking re-shuffle….” As I wrote to JHS, math is not my strong suit, so I sometimes use math-related terminology confusingly, as well. (I’ll doublecheck for such confusing statements before making future posts.)

Thank you, again.

[huguenot]

Hooray! What great news!

[TimeCruncher]

To huguenot: Yes, it is great news. My daughter and I are relieved that the problem has been resolved. I am certain that her school’s administrators are relieved, as well. My daughter’s AP U.S. Government teacher must be the most relieved person of all. My daughter will be discreetly approaching her teacher later today (if possible) to get a verbal confirmation that the “problem” has been resolved, and so that she will have the opportunity to extend a personal “Thank you” to her teacher. huguenot, I thank you for your posts, information, and concern. I thank you for all your help.