<p>“If you are in a school district where your only options are AP classes,”
I think there are very few high schools which offer advanced classes other than AP and perhaps a few dual with some local cc.</p>
<p>Many of the AP classes are survey classes, yes, but many of them are also not that different from a college intro class, which also tends to be a survey. And, personally, I don’t have a problem with surveys. I think it’s good to get that kind of overview before you delve more deeply into a topic. I also think if it’s the only class you ever get on a topic (eg World History), then it’s better to get a survey than a narrowly focused topic. My high school didn’t like surveys so much, and instead of AP World (not sure if it existed back then) I got a semester, or maybe it was a whole year, on ancient Chinese and Japanese art. I really wish I’d gotten a survey instead. I wasn’t <em>that</em> interested in the art.</p>
<p>“But bridging the achievement gap in school districts is really not the purpose of the AP program.” No, it’s not. Which is why I don’t think it’s a good idea to push unprepared kids into a program that isn’t designed for students at their level.</p>
<p>“And the federal and state funds used to finance the AP program could be redirected to help bring the whole district up to a level that might actually satisfy parents and students.” What federal and state funds? I don’t believe we are getting any special funding for offering AP. The school doesn’t pay for the exams, the parents do. As far as I know, our AP teachers are paid the same as other teachers. And most of our AP class sizes are well above average for our school, which means that the AP classes are actually money-savers. Are you talking about fee waivers for students on free lunch? I am sure the $89 or whatever might be spent for those is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what is already being spent to close achievement gaps etc. And those students may really benefit from having to pay for fewer college credits to earn a degree.</p>