The CCs were much more basic, and filled with a mix of students. The AP courses seemed deeper and more geared towards gifted.
I agree. My daughter has found AP Physics and AP Lit both to be
much more along the lines of what she
needs as a student.
Frankly, we should have had her in AP classes two years ago.
No experience with APUSH other than what I see from one of my DD's HG friends. :shrug:
It's not
precisely true that College Board doesn't determine curriculum in an AP course, either-- they do in a
de facto sense, since they have to approve the syllabus and content of each and every class bearing the label. They also "train" teachers via summmer workshops in order to "certify" them to teach AP. There is prepackaged curriculum, there are "approved" textbooks for these classes, etc. It's not really as open as regular course development.
I've been a bit less than thrilled with some of the 'test prep' angle in AP Lit (they've spent whole class periods dissecting selections and running through AP-like exam questions), but on balance, the rigor of the course-- and I don't mean "Rigor" the way educational marketers mean it-- makes up for a lot of sins.
Val, I've also heard the claim that multiple choice-- er-- excuse me-- "student selection" as an assessment tool CAN, in the hands of an expert writer, transcend the lowest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and get into 'synthesis' and such.
But frankly, I have never seen it done. Ever. Well-- that's not true. I had one college prof that managed it by virtue of "the answer bank" which contained ALL of the exam answers, and a few bonus red herring answers for fun. That was in a quantitative course, however (Chemistry 201, etc), so it really doesn't apply. I digress.
So. In my child's two AP courses, the main differences seem to be that:
a) more writing is expected. MUCH more writing.
b) in-class discussion is also expected-- much more participation than in regular classes (and DD has had both teachers prior to this year)
c) the pace is faster.
I don't think that I personally would consider either of these "college" level, but then again, both are out of my subject specialty. Actually, the pace in physics
is close to college level.
I think that these courses are not all that fantastic. However-- by comparison with regular (or even honors) coursework, they are certainly the best thing available. It's not that AP is all that great, but that most educational offerings in K-12 are just
that abysmal.JMO.
