DC Private Schools To Eliminate AP Classes

WASHINGTON, DC — Advanced Placement classes — rigorous high school courses that give students potential to earn college credits — will be eliminated from eight DC area private schools.

Georgetown Day School, Maret School, National Cathedral School, St. Albans School, Sidwell Friend School, Holton-Arms School, Landon School and The Potomac School announced AP courses would be gone from the curriculum by 2022. All of the schools but Maret offer AP courses.

School leaders said in a statement that students may pass up other courses to get the college credits from AP courses. However, colleges have different policies on how or if they accept the AP credits.

The statement also says the courses "stress speed of assimilation and memorization," pressuring teachers to cover the material on the test and sacrifice in-depth learning.

"Moving away from AP courses will allow us to offer a wider variety of courses that are more rigorous and enriching, provide opportunities for authentic engagement with the world, and demonstrate respect for students' intellectual curiosity and interests," said the school leaders in a joint statement.

The schools surveyed 150 colleges and universities and heard from college admissions officers that students won't be negatively impacted by not taking AP courses.

A letter to parents from The Potomac School's Head of School John Kowalik says the school has been examining the merit of AP courses for two years and that the school will phase out AP and bring in equally rigorous courses. Students will continue to have a full selection of AP courses when the 2018-2019 school year begins. An information session for families will be held in the fall.

The College Board, which runs the AP program, responded in a statement saying students at the eight schools have earned 39,000 credit hours to the colleges, totaling almost $59 million in tuition savings. "At a time when the placement, credit and admission benefits of AP have never been greater, it's surprising that these schools would choose to deny their students these advantages," reads the statement.

Started in the 1950s, AP courses have allowed students to receive college credits during their time in high school, allowing them to graduate from college early. 38 courses are offered, and many colleges will accept scores of 3 or higher on the AP test.

The program has been growing in recent years, with the number of high school graduates taking AP tests increased 70 percent in the last 10 years to 1.17 million, according to the College Board.

(Image via Shutterstock)