Advanced Placement

Why college-level high school programs will retain their influence, despite current problems.

By Jay Mathews

This has been a season for bashing Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate, the college-level courses and tests that have become increasingly popular in American high schools.

Harvard University said it was no longer going to give credit for anything less than the top score, a 5, on AP examinations for new students seeking sophomore standing. The Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City said it was removing the AP label from its courses in order to let its teachers be more creative. A committee of distinguished scholars assembled by the National Research Council said AP and IB courses had to become deeper and more conceptual, shedding their tendency to teach a lot of facts. ( "Scholars Critique Advanced Classes in Math, Science," Feb. 20, 2002.)

Supporters of the two programs (and there is no bigger cheerleader for AP and IB than I am) wondered what was going on. Was this some errant backwash from the negative reaction to a different issue, the new state achievement tests being given to all students? Were the private schools, desperate for marketing devices, thinking they could lure more students by saying they were better than AP? Was this the outbreak of fear and loathing that hits every educational program that...