EDUCATIONALLY SPEAKING -- Gay Geiser-Sandoval

The federal lawmakers are busy putting their fingers in the

educational pie. They want a standardized test whereby the public can be

assured that kids are learning certain things. It sounds like such a good

idea. Why shouldn’t we expect kids to have the same high level of

learning, whether their school is in the ghetto or the gated community?

In fact, why don’t we have the same final exam for all kids taking

Algebra I throughout the district? Most schools don’t even give the same

exam for the same subject taught in secondary schools by multiple

teachers. Standardized curriculum tests are not used on a district, state

or national level.

There is one exception to this practice. The Advanced Placement class

allows high school students to take college-level courses. At the end of

the course, there is a national standardized test given. It allows

colleges to have some assurance that the student has mastered the

material and is ready to move ahead to the next class.

Advanced Placement students all over the country use the same book and

study guides, and all of them take the exact same test on the exact same

date. Each test receives a score between 0 and 5. A score of 3 or above

is considered mastery of the subject, and many colleges give credit for

that amount of units or for taking that course requirement. Each college

can set its own criteria, and some require a score of 4 or 5 to receive

credit. Currently, the governor is giving a $3,000 scholarship, which can

be used at any college, to students who score a 5 in both AP calculus and

AP science.

Considering all of these benefits, why don’t our local high schools

offer the 30 possible AP courses available? For one thing, our schools

start a month later than many schools in the East and Midwest.

Because those schools get out earlier, AP testing takes place in the

first part of May. So, our students get eight months instead of nine to

learn the material.

There is teacher training for AP courses that is one week long in the

summer. But not all teachers receive that training. Not all teachers want

to teach a college-level course in which their results are so easily

tracked. The teachers whose students get the best results on AP tests

tend to put in a lot of extra time with mock tests and endless study

sessions. They don’t get paid extra like they would for coaching a sports

team.

Who should be able to take AP classes? Most schools screen those

students who want to take the class and only allow certain kids to give

it a try. Some schools further screen those who will be allowed to take

the test, so that the school’s AP scores don’t look low. Two teachers in

Los Angeles are faced with losing their AP classes because they let more

kids take the class and their passing percentage rate dropped

accordingly.

AP test scores can be affected by when school starts, the teacher’s

expertise in the field, the teacher’s training for the particular AP

class, the teacher’s expenditure of time with the students, the student’s

expertise in the subject area before taking the class, the student’s

other class load and commitment to other activities, and the student’s

motivation. If these variables cause such variation in results when both

teachers and students are trying to study and pass the same material, how

are governmental standardized tests (which don’t correlate to the books

or teacher’s lesson plan) going to be effective indicators?

While the UC system struggles with whether the SAT test is a fair

indicator for admission to college because of the variables discussed

above, the lawmakers are looking to latch on to a test for judging both

students and teachers for advancement and compensation. Who will be

blamed when 25% of students can’t pass the high school exit exam?

* GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL is a Costa Mesa resident. Her column runs

Tuesdays. She may be reached by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .