AP Audit?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
#1

<p>Okay, this doesn't apply to me, but it does effect me...</p>

<p>Apparently, the AP Course Audit requires classes to apply a specific consensus and whatnot (more at <a href="https://apcourseaudit.epiconline.org/)%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://apcourseaudit.epiconline.org/)&lt;/a>... And.. People I know have been kicked out of some of their classes (ex: Orchestra) because they are not able to Independent Study their AP Class and have it show up on their transcript. Is there really a requirement for a student to go to the class a certain amount of time? Our Independ Study works so the study would see both teachers the same amount of time each week (5 hours), having to see one or the other teacher after class. However, our new Dean of Students insists that the students can't do Independent Study because it would violate the AP Course Audit system... Is this for real?</p>

#2

<p>I'm an AP teacher, and my understanding of the Audit is that a title of "AP {course}" can't show up on a transcript unless you are enrolled in a class with an AP Audit approved teacher. From that point of view, I believe that an independent study program of an AP class would not be allowed, even if it were registered with an Audit approved teacher.</p>

<p>The point of the Audit was to ensure that AP teachers knew the content that they were supposed to deliver to students throughout the course of the year. When a student is doing independent study, the teacher no longer retains the same level of control over the content, and I believe that is the reason for the inability to label the course with the AP designation.</p>

<p>What you describe is a little unusual, in that it seems to imply that students spend approximately the same amount of time with a teacher outside of the standard hours as a student who sits in the class would do. I've never heard of such a system, but I wonder if that kind of system is truly an independent study type of system. It doesn't sound like it to me, but perhaps I am misunderstanding the original post. There might be a workaround for a system where the seat time is identical, but the College Board would be the ones to answer that.</p>

<p>In the absence of such a clear-cut answer from the College Board, I believe the Dean of Students is making the correct decision. If the Dean were to take an alternative route, and found out after the fact, your school might not be permitted to offer any AP courses for a set period of time. Encouraging the Dean of Students (or perhaps your school's AP Coordinator) to actually get such clarification from the College Board may indeed be a difficult task.</p>

<p>Part of the issue regarding the reason for the Audit came in, because people were labeling anything that was honors (or in some cases, not even honors) as an AP course. AP Algebra 1, AP Underwater Basket Weaving, and such were the types of things that the AP program wanted to avoid in order to preserve the value of their trademark and their program.</p>

<p>Of course, none of the above impacts these students' ability to sit for the AP Test in May. Any student may sign up to take an AP Test, regardless of whether they've taken the course or not.</p>

<p>But if the independent study showing up on the transcript is the goal, your Dean of Students is interpreting the situation correctly, at least as I understand it, and the affected students might very well be out of luck on this one.</p>

<p>Hope that helps.</p>

#3

<p>I have heard of homeschool parents submitting lesson plans and getting approval from the College Board to call their at-home classes AP classes. Also, my daughter is taking an AP-audited and approved online class for homeschoolers. It is definitely independent study, although there is contact via the internet with the teacher and the other students. The situation you are asking about seems similar to the situation for homeschoolers. The curriculum you plan to follow has been approved, so you should be able to list it as an AP course on your transcript.</p>

#4

<p>I didn't mean it as the same situation as homeschool. My school offers an idnependent study contract where, to take extra classes, agrees to meet with the teacher for the same amount of time outside of school as the time they'd spend actually in school.</p>

#5

<p>Independent Study should be listed on a transcript as Independent Study.</p>

#6

<p>I just meant similar in that the class, though approved, is largely studied by the student on his/her own. There is contact with a teacher, but there is not the normal in-class lecture experience. It is still accepted as an AP course, and should still prepare you adequately for the exam, provided the course is a good course to begin with. If your dean thinks that any course with any element of self-study violates the AP Audit system, that is not correct, but if he means that the course YOUR SCHOOL got approved did not mention that they might offer an independent study version of the course, then he might have a point. Perhaps someone from your school could call the Collegeboard and find out if it would still be approved. Seems nitpicky to me, though, if you are going to follow the syllabus and do the same work (and especially if you meet with the teacher for the same amount of time). In fact, it hardly sounds like "Independent Study" to me. The Collegeboard website has a list of FAQs...this is the most relevant one I found:</p>

<p>"I teach more than one section of my AP course. Do I have to submit a syllabus for each section?</p>

<p>Teachers must submit one syllabus for each AP course taught. So long as a teacher teaching multiple sections of the same course uses the same syllabus for each section, only that syllabus needs to be submitted. If a teacher teaches two different AP courses, for example, AP U.S. History and AP World History, he or she will have to submit separate AP Course Audit forms and syllabi for each subject."</p>

<p>Sounds to me like you are in a separate section of the same course.</p>

#7

<p>I have to partially disagree. There is a significant difference between a home-schooled environment (where the teacher is simply not a classroom teacher) or an online course (where the teacher and the students don't communicate in a traditional classroom setting) and the idea of independent study.</p>

<p>If a course is truly an independent study course, then the teacher isn't necessarily providing the same level of assistance to the students as either of the other two settings implies. It's also not a guarantee that the same syllabus and same work are exactly followed; my understanding of independent study was merely that the student would have a similar level of competence with the subject matter, but might achieve such in different ways. From that point of view, it's possible that a different syllabus is being followed in an independent study program, depending on how the individual school runs their program.</p>

<p>So I think the question may strongly depend on the nature of the independent study program involved. The spending the same amount of time with the teacher piece is what makes me think the idea of putting it on the transcript could theoretically be viable, but I have to agree with the above poster that it hardly sounds like "Independent Study" to me either.</p>

#8