Is A Score Of 3 (Out Of 5) On The Advanced Placement Exam in U. S. History Worth $100?

At last! I can rant & rave with authority! I am a Reader (aka Faculty Consultant) for the Educational Testing Service (ETS). ETS created the Advanced Placement Test in a variety of fields, including my field: U. S. History. I have read thousands of AP essays written by high school seniors (for the most part) each year over the past 7 years. I have made some great friends at the AP Reading (as it is known to us) at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. Tom Terrific in Wisconsin and the Nedster in Ohio are two of my favorites. Nearly 1,000 Readers waded through nearly 500,000 essay booklets last June at Trinity. Like all previous years, I sat at a table six other Readers under the supervision of a Table Leader (a Reader with lengthy experience). For a week, we read essays written by seekers of college credit by examination. Our job was to assign a numerical score between 0 and 9 to each essay. The AP seekers wrote 3 essays in their pinkbooks. The traditional college essay exam responses are written in books with blue covers (bluebooks). The AP booklets have pink covers, hence pinkbooks.

I have a very good idea of how much U. S. history an AP applicant knows when I read an essay. For 32 years I have taught the courses the AP applicants seek to avoid via an AP score. So, I KNOW two things:

1. What a student who completes two courses in U. S. history ought to know.




2. What an AP score of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 represents in terms of knowledge of U. S. history.

My children are graduates of Tascosa High School. My son attempted the AP exam in both Calculus (with a score of 5) and English (with a score of 3). My daughter—a magna cum laude law school graduate did not —as I recall—attempt an AP exam. At no time during their school years—my son en route to a Ph.D. in economics and my daughter with a J.D. with honors—did my children receive one red cent from their mother or me for an A on their report cards. I was not rewarded monetarily for grades as a child. My ex-wife was not rewarded monetarily for grades as a child. All three of them (ex-wife, son, and daughter) were far better students in grades K-12 than I was. All three were inducted into the National Honor Society in high school. I was not. All three graduated in the top percentile of their high school classes. I did not. None of us was ever monetarily rewarded for a grade. Suffice it to say that I find monetary rewards for grades a lot of nonsense.

An anonymous donor has created a fund to reward AP teachers and AP students for grades of 3 or better on any AP exam. This is misguided.

First, a score of 3 on an AP exam would not merit college credit of any sort at a respectable school. I am sad to say that my school—Amarillo College—awards credit for 1 course in U. S. history for a score of 3 on the AP Exam in U. S. history. I have protested to the academic leadership at the College, but they know what a score of 3 represents in terms of history knowledge. Yeah, right! And I am able to dance on the head of pin. At most respectable schools, a score of 4 is required for exemption from one college course. At my school? A score of 4 results in credit for 2 college courses. At most respectable schools a score of 5 is required for exemption from 2 college courses. At the very best schools (Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and the like), nothing less than a score of 5 is considered worthy of exempting a new student from college courses. The hapless anonymous donor's program at Tascosa High School equates a score of 3 with a score of 5. Nonsense!

Second, the reward to the AP teacher whose student earns a 3 should not be equal to the reward made to the AP teacher whose student earned a 5. In fact, the reward to the AP teacher whose student(s) earn a 5 should be a scholarship to an AP conference or workshop. The AP teacher-recipient would be exposed to best practices by experienced AP teachers and AP readers. There are workshops that are directed by charlatans and there are workshops that are directed by outstanding teacher-scholars.

Finally, THERE ARE NO PASSING SCORES ON THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAMINATION IN ANY FIELD. I am embarrassed that the principal of Tascosa High School in Amarillo, Texas refers to a score of 3 on an AP exam as a passing score. I would give that principal a 0 or a 1 (at best). An admissions officer at a selective institution is not going to be impressed by a score of 3 on an AP exam. A score of 4 will probably elicit a yawn. A score of 5 will attract attention. When I read an AP essay in San Antonio and awarded that essay the top score of 9, that student very likely will achieve a score of 4 or 5. I prefer to think that the few 9-essays I have encountered in the past 7 years were written by student who achieved a score of 5 on the AP exam in U. S. history. The 9-essays are breathtaking (to me) and represent the best student work I have ever seen in more than 39 years of college teaching (albeit that most of my time has been spent in 2-year colleges).

Benjamin Franklin once asked, What is the worth of a baby? I ask: What is the worth of a score of 5 on an AP exam? $100? $150 for the AP teacher? A score of 3 is worth a score of 5? It is all nonsense. If this be (fair & balanced) criticism, so be it.

Students on road less traveled
Advanced placement classes offer college prep, credit
By Jennifer Wilson

AP Incentives: Tascosa High teacher Kim Thurman, left, talks with her advanced placement students Sabina Mauricio, Jessica Pinkston, Allie Saucier and John Brooks. Students can earn money if they pass the AP tests.
Robert Mulherin / rmulherin@amarillonet.com

Tascosa High School senior Joseph Bonjour isn't taking the easy road.

This college-bound student has opted to take tougher courses during high school. Bonjour takes Advanced Placement classes, more commonly referred to as AP, and right now he's in AP biology, English and economics.
College admissions counselors notice AP on a transcript, he said.

"They give people a lot more time of day than regular classes," Bonjour said.

Bonjour is going the AP route, and so are many of his classmates. At Tascosa, the number of students opting for AP classes has skyrocketed over the past few years. And school officials attribute the increase to the AP/IP: the Advanced Placement Incentive Program.

Although all four Amarillo Independent School District high schools offer AP classes, Tascosa is the only one that has a program that awards $100 to students who pass the exams. The money comes from an anonymous donor, and Tascosa principal Bob Daniel loves the results.

"The incentive piques their interest," he said.

The number of AP tests taken by students has more than quadrupled since 2000, which was the last year with no incentive. The number of tests passed has nearly tripled, according to THS figures.

Daniel is also pleased that the number of minority students taking the exams is up. The percentage of minority test takers has doubled, he said.

To receive the $100, students must earn a three, four or five rating on the exam, Daniel said. Colleges look at these ratings and then award the student a number of college credits.

But students who take AP classes are not required to take these exams. Even if they choose not to, they're still well-prepared for college, and that's what Daniel likes most about AP.

"There are no minuses for this program," he said.

In Tascosa's incentive program, it may sound like the program is paying the students to join an AP class, but that's not the case, Daniel said. They're receiving recognition for the extra work required, such as after school and Saturday study sessions and summer training sessions.

All the exams take place in May, said Marsha Winget, AP coordinator at THS. AP courses offered range from biology to government to Latin.

But Tascosa's students aren't the only ones benefiting from the incentive program. AP teachers also receive a share.

"They are finally being rewarded for their hard work and effort," Daniel said.

Under the terms of the incentive program, teachers get $150 for each student who passes an exam. They also get stipends for periodic training sessions throughout the school year and summer.

Kim Thurman, who teaches AP English, said that teachers get extra training through the program. That includes a session every six weeks and two conferences, both during the school year, and a weeklong training conference in the summer.

In addition, Thurman and fellow AP teacher Joyce Herr have been invited to teach other teachers at seminars. Thurman is taking the money she received from incentives and traveling to a study program in England, which is sponsored through West Texas A&M.

She sees how the students' incentives have encouraged students of all abilities to get involved in AP. "Enrollment in the program has just gone up tremendously," Thurman said. "We are offering this program to anybody who wants to do the work."



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