Balt. Sun Investigates: Some parents, educators are rethinking role of AP

...Designed a half-century ago to give a few thousand elite students a chance to skip introductory college classes, Advanced Placement is now the required portal to college for any ambitious teen.
But its widespread acceptance as a national gold standard has altered the nature of high school for students like Boltz, some critics say. They see an education system that rewards top students who take 10 to 12 AP classes during their high school careers — the equivalent of more than a year of college — but narrows the choice of classes they can take and creates undue stress.
The system is driven partly, they say, by colleges that use Advanced Placement — the number of classes taken and exam scores earned — to rank applicants, and by savvy local school administrators who want to boost a school's national rankings. School districts routinely point to those rankings, giving principals an incentive to get more students to take the classes.
Now some parents, educators and even university admissions officers are rethinking the role of AP classes. A Baltimore County parents group wants teachers and administrators to be more upfront about the demands of the classes.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/sun-investigates/bs-md-ap-misuses-20140118,0,4055233.story#ixzz2rA7QXRho