The debate over the value of the Advanced Placement program continues as AP cheerleader Jay Mathews reports on “a series of competing, sometimes contradictory studies” looking at the effectiveness of this an other college-level high school classes.
Mathews, of course, focuses on the study that shows the AP in the best light. Nothing new there.
However, buried towards the end of the article, I did learned something rather surprising.
AP Executive Director Trevor Packer has emphasized that there is no official AP curriculum and that there are many different ways to teach the courses, but it has not mollified some school leaders, who say AP already has too much influence over what they teach.
Too much influence! No official AP curriculum! I thought that was the whole point to the program. The College Board was supposed to have developed an advanced national curriculum in a variety of subjects with the goal of challenging high school students who were ready.
It’s been a while since I went to AP teacher training, but it sure seemed as if we were being given the “official” curriculum. Maybe I should have looked closer to find their “many different ways”.