<p><a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools;
<p>Federal Grants
1998-1999 $2,700,000
1999-2000 $4,000,000
2000-2001 $15,000,000
2001-2002 $22,000,000
2002-2003 $22,000,000
2003-2004 $23,500,000</p>
<p>From another source:</p>
<p>Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia now offer AP aid programs. Most commonly, they pay all or some Advanced Placement exam fees for students.</p>
<p>In my original post, I answered the question as to whether Bellevue subsidizes the cost of AP tests. They do not pay for them. If there are reduced fees, it’s covered by the parent’s assn at the particular schools. Students are <em>required</em> to take either the “real” ($82) AP test or the practice (free) test. The district grades the practice tests. </p>
<p>$82 can be a waste of money if your kids will not be able to use the tests for placement or credit (as is the case with many “elite” schools); it can also be a waste of money if you know you won’t do well.</p>
<p>Not taking the test does not make the course itself useless. It merely removes one indicator of how well the course was taught. I see nothing wrong with students taking the course, getting a poor grade, and not taking the test. Simply taking the course may provide a more rigourous and demanding curriculum than would otherwise be available.</p>
<p>dmd: While some schools may have PTAs support fee reductions (particularly in other districts), my kids’ BSD school has funds come from the school’s budgeted amount for such purposes, which includes assistance with more than just AP fees (which means the district does put $ toward this). I assume the same is true for the other BSD high schools. The required mock exams are sent to experienced AP readers that the district pays for. In fact, the district also sends optional practice exams given in class in late March (some teachers give them, some don’t) to experienced readers for feedback to the students prior to the tests. Two years ago, my D had one such practice test (the last released MC + last year’s FR) read by a well-regarded textbook author in that particular subject. Her papers were returned to her two weeks before the May exam. Her teacher received informative comments from this reader that helped with the last week or so of review time. I have no information on how the district budgets these costs.</p>
<p>Browsing through the Bellevue Schools Foundation website, <a href=“http://www.bsfdn.org/About/Financials/BSF_FY2006_Budget.asp[/url]”>http://www.bsfdn.org/About/Financials/BSF_FY2006_Budget.asp</a>, I don’t see a specific line-item for these costs, so cannot tell if support comes from this group. But as one can see, the BSD community heavily supports programs that the state will not, and that can free up $ for the district to provide fee-reduction support for many student programs. (disclosure: I was a trustee for the Foundation in my past life.)</p>
<p>now my daughter is taking the practice AP test even though I am not having her take the “real” test.
I know in Seattle- it varies on what is charged, I am not sure if the money is made up by the school or the PTA.
I was surprised on a few other threads, that students are actually charged MORE than $82, not sure what the reasoning was on that one.
BTW if anyone wants their car washed today or next saturday- my daughters track team is raising money at the Montlake 76 station right off the cut :)- ( oh- I suppose this will be deleted- but I like to live dangerously)</p>
<p>EK: It looks like the sun is out for a bit this AM. Hope the carwash goes well. Maybe those AP fees could be redirected to the track team to provide balance in the kids’ lives. :D</p>
<p>I think some of the kids on the track team are also the ones taking AP.
Even my daughter who could surely benefit from more time spent on school work has several ECs- track and ponies and a sewing class. ( although this weekend is the last for the ponies)
But I am trying to take a lesson from a good friend and allow her time to progress at her own pace. I am not making a comment on other families or students, I know a lot of students push themselves and it is all their parents can do to help them slow down a little.
But for her- in 10th gd taking an AP class and a class that is probably more difficult than an AP class is amazing considering that the level of those classes that she had in middle school, did not prepare her and she is having to work doubly hard to get a B ( barely)</p>
<p>The hard thing for me with AP is schools who offer AP and regular classes. The regular classes get a reputation for having more kids who are disruptive, less control over the class and more time spent waiting for the class to start again. So students who are academic, have to chose the AP classes, even if they aren’t quite ready for them. We shouldn’t have the AP classes the only ones where students have to do any work. And we also need the middle schools to have more rigorous classes so that kids are prepared for high school.
In middle school the science classes were pathetic, my daughter was very interested in science, but what they did was similar to what I remember from grade school. It was really sad. The schools are just so variable. To bring it back kind of on topic, Bellevue is a smaller district than Seattle and has a different student population. Their schools may not vary as much.
My sister has had two kids attend Interlake in the IB program, and she was quite happy with it, although it sounded like they were pretty seperate from teh rest of the student body.
Her next two kids are attending Sammamish and they also are able to attend( computer) courses at the community college , transportation provided by the school, don’t think they are taking any AP classes though.
Dont know where the next one will attend high school- of course he is only 1 & 1/2! lol</p>
<p>Back to the Bellevue topic too: EK: Your comment that the schools don’t vary as much hit the bullseye. Regardless of a school’s demographics, the superintendent and school board are intent on providing the same curriculum regardless of the school you attend. While there are certainly exceptions to this (teaching academy at one school, CISCO at another, IB at Interlake - all of which draw kids from all over the district), soon students who graduate from BSD schools will have experienced a uniform preparation which will not allow for gaps from grade to grade. Preparing students for challenging high school curricula is a priority in the elementary and middle schools. That does not mean they are turning out little AP-er’s in the middle school, but it does mean that the district is eliminating much of the rehashing of the same subjects that tend to occur in middle school (TIMSS report). Kids are provided rigor at every stage, and most importantly the support to handle the successes and failures that come along with tackling challenges. BSD is at the forefront of some interesting research to ensure successful transition to college and ultimately college graduation. <a href=“http://www.bsd405.org/Default.aspx?tabid=390[/url]”>http://www.bsd405.org/Default.aspx?tabid=390</a>
<a href=“http://www.bsd405.org/Default.aspx?tabid=179[/url]”>http://www.bsd405.org/Default.aspx?tabid=179</a></p>
<p>i am soon to be a graduate of the bellevue school district.</p>
<p>basically, at bsd they force you to take ap tests. the particular school i go to is very generous with ‘ap scholarships’. you simply have to get a form from the main office, have your parents sign it, and pay. you do have to give a valid reason, but anything along the lines of ‘if i get no scholarship i am not going to take it’ will work. it’s all about the newsweek rankings, after all. my friends who are taking 4-7 ap tests have been doing this for years. although i come from a typical upper middle class Bellevue family, i am applying for the scholarship. it’s cheating, i suppose… but the school allows it to be done, casting a blind eye towards these behaviors.</p>
<p>there is definitely a pressure to take ap courses. i took regular biology freshmen year, chemistry sophomore year, and physics junior year. as i was trying to decide which science class to take senior year, i realized that it would be impossible for me to continue on with science unless i take ap. thus, i am currently in ap biology, even though i have no interest in biology. result? i received a ‘C’ first semester, hurting my overall gpa.</p>
<p>however, i do realize the importance of ap. going to bsd, taking ap courses seem ‘natural’ to me. during a college admission interview recently, the officer told me that one of the strength’s of my application was my demanding courseload. i know that ap courses cannot be directly parallel to college courses, but i think i am well prepared for college. as my ap literature teacher recently remarked (more or less): ‘your writing ability in ap literature shows that you can write at the college level’.</p>
<p>in addition, bsd’s golden reputation allows for incredibly good rates on admission to state universities like UW. if you look through the UW forums here at cc, you will see many bsd students getting in with 3.0’s. my friend recently got in with a 2.8!</p>
<p>really?
some kids from Garfield didn’t get in with 3.7
I dont know what else was on their application though.
Could be they didn’t take enough APs since Garfield doesn’t weight grades</p>
<p>emeraldkity: bsd does not weigh grades for ap. a 4.0 is the highest gpa you can get - with or without ap. however, class rank is calculated using a 5.0 scale.</p>
<p>I’m from the Northshore school district, but have quite a few friends at Newport and other Bellevue schools. I was able to create this little comparison of Northschore, Bellevue, and Seattle school districts if anybody is interested. <a href=“http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/SideBySide.aspx?schoolId=118&OrgTypeId=3&reportLevel=District&orgLinkId=118[/url]”>http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/SideBySide.aspx?schoolId=118&OrgTypeId=3&reportLevel=District&orgLinkId=118</a></p>
<p>I found it interesting that Bellevue’s drop-out rate is 1.2%. This is significantly lower then Northshore (5.6%) and Seattle (5.3%). Clearly, Bellevue’s doing a lot of things right ;)</p>
<p>Edit: It appears that the comparison tool did not save the choices. If anybody is curious, you will probably have to manually select the districts to compare…</p>
<p>I think it is more helpful to acutally compare schools
for instance the two IB schools in Bellevue and Seattle are different yet similar
free and reduced lunch rate is 30% in Bellevue and 45.4% in Seattle
Caucasian students are 58.9% in Bellevue and 35.2% in Seattle
Dropout rate is 2.7% Bellvue and 1.9% Seattle
school size is 784 Bellevue and 1183 Seattle
Each school was not doing as well as the district would like-and the IB program offerings have attracted students back to it.
By comparing districts things are hidden like % of free and reduced lunch, bilingual etc. If you look at similar schools, grad rate is more similar.</p>
<p>so to compare where my daughter would have gone to school if I had stayed in Bellevue to where she goes now ( isn’t the internet fun?)
Student count - Bellevue 1436 Seattle 1635
Caucasian %69.6 Bellevue 43.1 Seattle
Free lunch 10.5% Bellevue 24.7% Seattle
Dropout rate .08 Bellevue .07 Seattle</p>
<p>I’m inclined to agree with Xiggi here. I have substantial douts about the value of AP courses. A high school should be provide a foundation for college. Do AP courses really accomplish that?</p>