For many students, the senior year of high school is a time of transition as teenagers prepare to enter college, join the workforce or otherwise move on with their lives. Now, as part of Gov. Mark R. Warner's Education for a Lifetime initiative, educators hope to make this period a more beneficial time of learning as well.
Last week, Warner announced the creation of the Commonwealth College Course Collaborative, an agreement between 62 public and private institutions of higher education in Virginia to offer credits for qualifying coursework completed in high school, including Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Dual-Enrollment classes.
"It's another step in the direction to allow access to more students," said Charles Pyle, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Education. "There's a clear link between the overall level of student achievement and the availability of challenging courses."
For students without access to such programs, "Virtual Advanced Placement" classes now are being made available in the form of television and online distance-learning opportunities.
"They are working to offer virtual AP instruction in areas where resources are such where they are not able to have literal AP classes," said Clo Phillips, University associate provost for institutional advancement. "That's a great step forward for parts of the Commonwealth where students don't have access to AP."
If the necessity of such reform is clear to educators statewide, the methods for measuring its success are not nearly as straightforward.
"There's not a settled research consensus," said Greg Forster, senior research assistant at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank based in New York City.
According to a 2003 study Forster co-authored, "only 70 percent of all students in public high schools graduate, and only 32 percent of all students leave high school qualified to attend four-year colleges." The study defined college readiness as the completion of high school with a minimum level of coursework and basic literacy skills.
"It seems likely that very few people would go so far as to say that the public school system is now doing the best possible job of preparing students for college," the study states in its conclusion.
Addressing this very concern, Virginia, which has one of the highest levels of college readiness in the nation at 43 percent, according to the study, is now at the forefront of a movement to fundamentally alter the framework of secondary education.
Breaking rank
Earlier this month, the National Association of Secondary School Principals announced a set of $25,000 grants to 17 state associations of principals and educators, including one in Virginia, to encourage the development of "small, personalized and rigorous schools." The grants are being provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which also funded the Manhattan Institute study.
In Virginia, the grant will fund training for high school principals to create in their schools a "collaborative, professional learning community," not entirely different from what is offered in higher education.
The provision of such training could result in practical changes for high school students by the start of the 2005-2006 school year, according to Maureen B. Hijar, director of secondary instruction for the Virginia Department of Education.
"The high school format that's there has been in place for many, many years," Hijar said. "We're in the process of redesigning the American high school."
Does plus mean better?
In addition to such changes, the Commonwealth College Course Collaborative is just one piece of "Senior Year Plus," Warner's planned reform for the 12th grade of public education.
For those who don't seek a bachelor's degree after high school, Warner has proposed an alternative "Path to Industry Certification" that would offer students a semester of tuition for technical certification at local community colleges.
"We're making sure that all students are provided with the tools they need to enter the workforce," Hijar said.
Charlottesville High School Principal Kenneth Leatherwood said programs targeted at senior year education could aid students who currently fall through the cracks.
"That's not to say what we're doing now doesn't prepare kids," Leatherwood said. "This is just another way of doing that."
Similarly, a push to increase Advanced Placement participation and acceptance nationwide is not likely to require significant changes at the University, which already offers students credit for a range of AP coursework.
"The University is already very generous" in awarding credit for AP scores, said Richard Handler, associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. "It is probably the most generous among elite universities."
Ahead of the game
On average, two-thirds of the University's incoming first-year class arrives with nearly a semester's worth of credit, according to Phillips, though some of it may only count toward elective requirements.
In the past, it has been up to the University's individual departments to decide what scores to accept and how much credit to offer. Under the Commonwealth College Course Collaborative, however, schools have agreed to accept certain high-level scores toward their degree requirements.
Though University departments historically have been open to accepting credit from incoming students, some educators are concerned that high school coursework cannot adequately serve as a substitute for college instruction.
"Most college professors would tell you that these AP courses are not as good as college courses," Handler said. "The department may give you credit, but in fact the course you took in high school is nothing like the one at U.Va. It is a different world."
Still others assert that Advanced Placement classes better prepare high school students for college, even if they do not offer the same instructional environment as college courses themselves.
"Studies show that students who take AP courses are prepared," College Board Spokesperson Jennifer Topiel said. "Students who participate in the AP program graduate within four years or less at a greater rate than their peers who don't participate in AP."
In fact, a study entitled "Answers in the Toolbox" conducted by the U.S. Department of Education in 1999 suggested that participation in college-level coursework in high school was the best indicator of whether or not a student would complete an undergraduate degree.
Even those who question the adequacy of AP coursework in college preparation acknowledge that increasing the availability of testing and credit offerings could have positive effects for education.
"The argument in favor of AP, from the governor's perspective, is that it gives kids a head start in college," Handler said. "It can save students a semester's or year's tuition and space in schools, which is good for the citizens of Virginia."
Across the board
Nationwide, approximately 90 percent of colleges and universities currently offer credit to incoming students who have earned sufficient scores on Advanced Placement exams, Topiel said.
"Most colleges out there will offer credit," she said. "However, it depends on the different policies at every school and within every department."
Elite institutions, for example, are less likely to offer credit since students there tend to have taken a greater number of AP examinations in high school, Topiel said.
"There are certain very competitive schools where AP coursework is expected," she said. "These schools have students who have taken 10 or more AP courses."
While institutions of higher education generally are willing to cooperate with the AP program, the availability of such courses in high schools is not as high. Currently, only 60 percent of U.S. high schools offer at least one AP course, according to Topiel.
"It is certainly possible to get the program into more schools," Topiel said, noting that schools in some rural and urban areas are less likely to offer AP opportunities. "College Board is doing what it can to get AP into those schools."
As chair of the National Governor's Association, Warner has made nationwide high school reform a centerpiece of his administration. Earlier this month, the Virginia governor announced a year-long initiative, "Redesigning the American High School," intended to "spur states to enact real, tangible system-wide reform of high school."
Still, despite the best efforts of politicians, principals, teachers and educators, there are those who believe not all students will take advantage of the opportunities available to them.
"There are people who work harder," Leatherwood said. "If you don't work harder, you won't do as well."
Read More
Two senior U.Va. Health leaders quietly take new jobs without formal announcement
By Ford McCracken | 14 hours agoKibbe’s departure marks the end of an ongoing battle between U.Va. Health employees and their senior leadership.
Letter from 12 deans to Board of Visitors goes unanswered for almost two weeks
By Naima Sawaya | 17 hours agoAt the time of publication, the academic deans had received no response from the Board regarding their offer to meet with the Board “as soon as possible.”
Sen. Tim Kaine speaks to U.Va. students, discusses Ryan resignation and more
By Grace Traxler | YesterdayIn an informal Q&A session, audience members asked about threats to federal research, the future of diversity, equity and inclusion at the University, potential shifts in the Democratic Party and more.
