Apparently nodding off during AP exams is a problem at Churchill High School in Potomac.
Take a look at the notice below that students must sign to take an AP exam. Stay awake or else!
The College Board Bulletin cited by this Churchill HS memo doesn't mention that AP tests will be taken away if a student falls asleep. The "Sleeping During AP Exams Penalty" appears to be a situation specific to Churchill HS.
Of course, part of the problem might be that AP exams at Churchill High School are mandated for all students in AP classes. It's probably hard to be motivated to take an AP test when you know the subject area isn't your best, or your intended college won't take the score.
All a Churchill student has to do to get out of a course's graded final exam is pay the $86 for the AP exam and stay awake!
Is this really about the AP experience; or, is this is about getting a high rating on Jay Mathews' Challenge Index that measures tests taken but not scores?
The extra fees collected just sweeten the pot for the local school.
The College Board doesn't charge a LATE fee and only charges a $13 fee for unused tests. But read the form below. Churchill is charging a $39 late fee (gotta love the $39 - sounds so authentic!) and will only refund $50 for cancellations, not $73.
Where does the money go that isn't sent to the College Board organization to pay for the AP exams? We know the money doesn't go into the MCPS Operating Budget but stays at the local school to be spent at the discretion of the principal. Those AP exams are a great little fundraiser!
Winston Churchill High School AP Exam Inflated Late Fee and Mandatory Test Sign Up
GREAT story.
ReplyDeleteTalk about teaching to the test. (or the Index, in this case.)
It makes one ask how much more of the success of Montgomery's elite High Schools amounts to this kind of veneer?
What happens if you don't sign the "loyalty oath" (er, the form that you "understand" the "expectations")? What happens if your parents refuse to sign, just on principle? Do you still get to take the test?
ReplyDeleteFirst, students falling asleep during the test is a serious distraction to others who take the test seriously. How do I know? I talk to my students who tell me so.
ReplyDeleteSecond, while I despise the Matthews Index, it does include the "Equity and Excellence rate, the percentage of all seniors who have had at least one score on an AP, IB or Cambridge test that would qualify them for college credit." In other words, the % of all seniors who earned a 3 or better on at least one AP exam. Not a great measure, but it does give a general sense of scores earned, contrary to the original poster's assertion that "...Jay Mathews' Challenge Index that measures tests taken but not scores?" I'm sure the original poster will post her usual rebuttal in rant-like fashion as she normally does within minutes, presuming of course she allows this message to be posted.
Third, it is MCPS policy that an AP student either take the AP test or they take a final exam. It is not individual school policy. The original poster's words would make one think Churchill made up this rule. To wit, she wrote "All a Churchill student has to do to get out of a course's graded final exam is pay the $86 for the AP exam and stay awake!" Why not state the entire truth and replace "Churchill" with "MCPS?" Personal vendetta perhaps?
AP exams run on average around 3 hours. MCPS students are not allowed to leave the classroom prior to the official end of the testing period.
ReplyDeleteSo a student who puts her head down (as that is the only thing a student can do - looking around would be seen as cheating) should FLUNK the exam if they fall asleep according to Churchill HS.
The Equity and Excellent part of the Challenge Index was added in 2007. And it actually only requires a 3 on an AP exam "sometime in high school". This is from the Newsweek explanation of the Equity and Excellence rating explanation. This is a separate ranking from the Challenge Index ranking.
The actual MCPS policy on final exams is that a student is to complete a "culminating activity" that will be "recorded in the same manner as a final exam" for students that sit for the AP exam.
Exactly what type of "culminating activities" are given at Churchill HS for students that sit for AP exams? Please give some examples. Here's one: kickball.
The College Board charges a $50 late charge per exam for any ordered after the deadline. Get your facts correct BEFORE you blog.
ReplyDeleteThe College Board does charge $13 for every unused, returned exam. Students are entitled to a refund of $73 if they paid for an exam and did not sit for it ($86 - $13 = $73).
@ anonymous 2:38
ReplyDeleteWake up before you comment. Read the Churchill notice. Churchill doesn't charge a $50 late fee after April 9th.
Churchill charges a "$39 late fee" after March 19th. That's a completely made up fee and if paid the cash goes to the school, not the College Board.
You may think students are entitled to a $73 refund, but Churchill doesn't. Churchill students who cancel before the exam date only get back $50, not the $73 they are entitled.
The real College Board calendar of deadlines is at this link
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/ap/dates-deadlines