Academic Excellence & Equity of Access:College Preparation as Education for LifeHKIS and the Advanced Placement Program®

Hong Kong International School

25 September 2012

By popular demand? . . . Our annual quiz - some old, some new! (if you were in attendance the last two years, perhaps you’ll recognize the questions . . . we’ll expect you to provide the answers to the old ones)•Question One: True or False5 is the highest score a student can earn on an AP exam.

(n.b. - This is the easy one.)

. . . our annual quiz!

•Question One: True or False5 is the highest score a student can earn on an AP exam.

Answer: TrueAn AP Exam is scored 1-5, with 3 representing a passing score.

Our annual quiz continued . . .

•Question Two: True or FalseA student must achieve 90% accuracy on all sections of the exam to earn a 5.

Our annual quiz continued . . .

•Question Two: True or FalseA student must achieve 90% accuracy on all sections of the exam to earn a 5.

Answer: FalseScores are norm-referenced so that only the highest performing students (typically the top 10-11%) earn a 5.

Our annual quiz continued (beware of the proliferation of trick questions) . . .

•Question Three: True or FalseIt is better to take an AP class and earn a B than to take a high school college preparatory class and earn an A.

Christoph Guttentag, Duke University Dean of Admissions, answers as follows . . .

Our annual quiz continued (beware of the proliferation of trick questions) . . .

•Question Three: True or FalseIt is better to take an AP class and earn a B than to take a high school college preparatory class and earn an A.

Answer: You’ve asked the wrong question. “It is better to take the AP and earn an A.”

Our annual quiz continued (not a trick question . . . I promise!) . . .

•Question Four: True or FalseStudents must take the AP course in order to sit for an AP exam.

Our annual quiz continued . . .

•Question Four: True or FalseStudents must take the AP course in order to sit for an AP exam.

Answer: False. A student may prepare independently to sit for an AP exam, especially in subjects HKIS does not offer. If a student seeks to take the exam at HKIS, s/he must register by 19 October 2012. Students may also register with HKEAA in January.

How are HKIS students doing?

• In May 2012, 385 of our students sat for 25 different exams (a total of 959 tests), and 95% earned passing scores (3 or higher).

• 80% of them earned scores of 4 or 5.• In short, they are doing extraordinarily well! • Moreover, approximately 88% of the Class of

2012 took and passed one or more AP courses while in high school.

Our recipe for success Careful design + sensible practice

• Vertical teaming “to equip students with the necessary foundational skills at each grade level, through vertical alignment of the curriculum, to ensure student success once they reach . . . AP courses.”

-- Rice University study

Our recipe for success Careful design + sensible practice

• Reserving AP courses for academically mature upper-class students as advocated by the College Board: “AP courses are best positioned as a part of a student’s 11th and 12th grade academic experience.”

-- College Board Policy Statement 2010

Our recipe for success Careful design + sensible practice

• Placing constraints on the number of AP courses a student can take to promote a balanced, wholesome high school experience: “three, four, or five AP courses are sufficient,” colleges tell Trevor Packer, executive director of the College Board’s AP Program.

-- Jay Matthews, The Washington Post

And Now a New Venture! AP | Cambridge Capstone Seminar• 15 high schools world-wide• 1 international school• 28 HKIS students• Focus on analytical skills / critical

thinking• Premium on creativity & collaboration• Enhanced oral and written expression

Success in the numbers . . .Matriculation Patterns of the Most Academically Qualified HKIS Graduates 2008 – 2012

Works Cited Center for College Readiness, Rice University

• http://collegeready.rice.edu/College_Readiness_Landing_Main.aspx

College Board Policy: Appropriate Grade Levels for AP Courses • http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/

Appropriate-Grade-Levels-for-AP-Courses.pdf

Jay Matthews, “Too Many AP Courses? It’s Possible, Official Says,” The Washington Post, 7 February 2007. • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/

2007/02/06/AR2007020600738.html?referrer=emailarticle