Gifted Issues Discussion homepage

Uh, I'm just skimming the Board's report but it looks like Mr. Richwine (wasn't there a scandal about this guy?) is not being forthright. I don't see where "The College Board offers some speculative reasons about why some students are college-ready and others are not." Actually, I don't see any direct claim that "college-ready students took more AP tests" or that "more college-ready students took the PSAT." Might have missed it. He's correct about "more college-ready students completed a “core curriculum," but of course, that's not the same as Common Core, which we all know is a new thing.

What the report does say is that students who scored higher on AP tests also scored higher on the SAT, and that students who scored higher on the PSAT score higher on the SAT. Duh. And it tries to sell us the value of the PSAT as an early indicator. But I don't see ANY claims that taking the PSAT or taking AP exams makes you get a higher score on the SAT.

Again, I'm just skimming, but from where I stand this look like like poor journalism from the National Review.

Those students who met the SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmark had a
number of critically important academic characteristics that must be shared by all
students if our nation is to make meaningful gains in educational attainment.

Those characteristics happen to include (via the chart above and the text below) taking the PSAT and taking AP/Honors courses. Note that the correlation provided is just the taking of these tests/classes, not doing well in them.

1. Taking AP Courses Alone Is Not Related to College Success.
Simple comparisons of outcomes for AP and non-AP students can be extremely misleading. They might simply show that whatever personal characteristics cause students to choose to enroll in AP courses—such as motivation and family support—also help them succeed in college. After taking these and other types of pre-existing factors into consideration, there was no evidence in NCEA’s research that merely taking AP courses is related to college graduation rates.
2. Taking AP Courses and Passing AP Exams Is What Matters.
On the other hand, we found that passing the corresponding AP exams is related to college graduation rates. That is, students who demonstrate that they are ready for college and that they can successfully complete an AP course and pass an AP exam in high school are also those who are most likely to graduate from college. In general, school systems that do a better job of preparing students for college and career produce more students who take and pass AP exams and also produce more students who later graduate from college.

Funny... when I was in AP classes, outside of math, there wasn't all that much homework. Mostly by skipping the math, I probably averaged less than an hour per school night. Sure, there was the odd project where I needed to put in a good 3-4 hours in a night, but that was offset by enough nights where I had little or nothing that I needed to do (except math, and that wasn't going to happen).

It was the kids in the classes labeled "college prep" that had all the homework, because they needed practice, practice, practice.

It gets worse. The College Board offers some speculative reasons about why some students are college-ready and others are not. One is that more college-ready students took the PSAT. (Guess who sells the PSAT.) Another is that college-ready students took more AP tests. (Guess who sells AP tests.) Still another is that more college-ready students completed a “core curriculum.” (Guess who will be selling tests based on the Common Core national standards.)

Those students who met the SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmark had a
number of critically important academic characteristics that must be shared by all
students if our nation is to make meaningful gains in educational attainment.
This year’s report highlights characteristics of these students to help demonstrate
successful patterns that can be replicated in schools and districts throughout the country.

Students who met the SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmark were more
likely to have completed a core curriculum, which is defined as four or more years of
English, three or more years of mathematics, three or more years of natural science,
and three or more years of social science and history. However, of the students who
completed a core curriculum (75 percent), only 49 percent met the SAT Benchmark,
indicating a need for more rigorous core courses.

Students who met the SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmark were more
likely to have taken honors or AP courses, more likely to have taken higher-level
mathematics courses (e.g., precalculus, calculus, and trigonometry), and more likely
to be in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class than their peers who
did not meet the SAT Benchmark.

... Richwine's post (at a conservative journal of opinion, after all) is a reasonable summary of the report

... On a lighter note, one of the "critically important academic characteristics that must be shared by all students if our nation is to make meaningful gains in educational attainment" is that students "be in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class". Is the College Board pulling our leg?

... This year’s report highlights characteristics of these students to help demonstrate
successful patterns that can be replicated in schools and districts throughout the country.