Eight elite schools to ditch AP courses
School officials are not convinced AP courses are worth it.
But the heads of eight elite private schools in the Washington, D.C., area have announced that they will eliminate the courses by 2022. In a joint statement published online, the school officials described the courses as having “diminished utility” and added that they wanted to develop their own advanced courses that address students’ needs and interests.
The schools signing the statement are Georgetown Day School, Holton-Arms School, Landon, Maret, National Cathedral School, The Potomac School, St. Albans School and Sidwell Friends. While all are prestigious, Sidwell alumni include the children of at least three presidents: Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
The announcement pointed out that advanced placement courses were introduced in the 1950s to offer ambitious students an opportunity to pursue college-level work. The idea was that students could then graduate from college early. “Yet today, few college students graduate in less than four years," the statement pointed out. "Further, each college has its own policy as to how, or if, credit is awarded for AP tests, with some top schools no longer offering any credit at all.”
AP courses are a product of the College Board, which also administers the SAT and PSAT tests. The courses let “colleges and universities know that you have what it takes to succeed in an undergraduate environment,” the board’s website explains. But the Washington prep schools surveyed admissions officers at almost 150 colleges and universities and were told that this decision wouldn’t adversely impact students going through the application process.
Indeed, the focus on timed, standardized tests doesn’t promote higher-level discussion, the statement said.
Some students and school officials have developed a Holy Grail mindset about AP courses. As a result, students pass up classes that they might find “more intellectually transformative and rewarding,” the statement said. Not only that, instead of focusing on deep thinking, teachers worry about covering material that will be on the AP test.
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