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Schools

Berlin High School Students Taking More AP Classes

But only by a slight margin according to State Department of Education.

Recently, the State Department of Education released information about Advance Placement (AP) test taking trends in public high schools across Connecticut. The report compared 2010 results with those of 2009 and declared a trend of “greater participation and strong performance” on AP tests in Connecticut.

Berlin High School followed this positive trend, if only slightly, with more AP test takers and a higher percentage of AP test successes in 2010 than in 2009. However, the report also showed that Berlin still has lower AP test participation and success rates than many other high schools in the surrounding area.  

The AP program allows students to take challenging college-level classes while they are still in high school and also gives students an opportunity to earn college credit for those classes. Upon completing an AP class in a particular subject, a student can choose to take the corresponding AP exam, or not. AP exams are scored on a five-point scale, and students who achieve a score of three or higher are considered ‘qualified’ to receive college credit.

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In 2009, 62 percent of AP tests taken by BHS students received scores of three or higher. In 2010, this percentage increased to nearly 68 percent. However, many towns in the surrounding area had a higher AP test success rates. Cheshire High School had an 89 percent success rate, while Cromwell, Farmington, Southington, West Hartford and Wethersfield high schools all had success rates of about 75 percent. Newington and Rocky Hill had rates of 69 percent, and Plainville’s rate was 64 percent. High schools in New Britain, Meriden and Middletown all had rates in the 40 percent range.

Board of Education President Gary Brochu acknowledged that while increasing Berlin’s success rate is important, the major focus should be on increasing the number of students taking AP courses at BHS. “You’re dealing with a relatively small sample size, so a few kids one way or the other can dramatically change these percentages,” said Brochu. “Success rate is important, but the more interesting question to me is ‘How many AP courses and tests are the kids taking?’ because this represents aspiration and the rigor of curriculum in general.”

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In 2010, Berlin had 100 AP test takers, which was only a slight increase from 96 test takers in 2009. This means about nine percent of BHS students took an AP exam in each of those years. Several nearby towns had similar participation rates; Plainville, Rocky Hill, Southington and Wethersfield high schools were all in the nine percent range. However, participation rates for Cromwell, Farmington and West Hartford high schools were at least twice as high as Berlin’s rate.

The Board of Education and BHS administrators hope to improve these participation rates significantly over the next few years through a new Program of Studies (POS) at the high school. “Over the years, Berlin students haven’t always taken as many AP courses (as a percentage) as some of the neighboring school districts,” said Brochu. “Having said that, the new Program of Studies we recently approved for the high school will address that rather dramatically.” The revised Program of Studies was unanimously approved by the Board of Education in January but is still subject to budgetary approval by the Town Council.

Berlin High School Principal Matthew Harnett said that the new POS will provide greater incentive for students to take AP courses and AP exams going forward. Harnett explained that under both the current and new POS, students get a boost to their GPA just for taking an AP class. Because AP classes are more challenging and more rigorous than classes at other levels, students who take an AP class essentially get extra points added to their GPA. Harnett said that this GPA ‘point differential’ is a motivating factor for many students to take an AP class. However, under the current POS, AP students receive this point differential regardless of whether or not they take the AP exam at the end of the course. Under the new POS, receiving the point differential will be dependent upon taking the AP exam.

“Under the old POS, students didn’t have to take the AP exam. They could take the higher class and receive the point differential, but they didn’t have to worry about taking the AP exam. The expectation wasn’t there,” said Harnett. With the new POS, students won’t be forced to take the exam, but they will be rewarded with the point differential if they do. “Now we’re trying to build something into the system that says, if you’re going to take this class, our expectation is that you’re going to take the AP test at the end of the class. We’re saying you’re going to take the exam, because we want to make sure our AP classes are making the grade. We don’t have enough data to flush that out now with only a handful of kids taking the test. We want more kids taking the test, because then we can see if the instruction is rigorous and relevant and if we’re challenging students appropriately and meeting the standards set by AP.”

Another change that’s expected to improve AP participation rates in the coming years is related to “accelerated” classes at BHS. Students who currently take accelerated classes, the next level down from the AP level, also receive a GPA point differential but to a lesser extent than the AP students. The new POS will eliminate this accelerated class level altogether, so students won’t receive the point differential unless they take the more challenging AP/Honors class.

“Many kids who should be taking an AP class opt to take the less challenging accelerated class instead,” explained Harnett. “They receive the point differential, but they aren’t challenged and pushed as hard as they would be in the AP class. We’re really trying to do is to raise the level of expectation and the level of rigor across the board,” he said.

Brochu said these program changes reflect a significant adjustment in philosophy. “Going forward with the new Program of Studies, I fully expect that in two or three years you’re going to see a real increase in the number of kids taking those AP courses. To me, right now Berlin’s challenge isn’t necessarily the percentage of kids getting a three or four on the AP test, because the sample size is still relatively small, but over the next two or three years if we can get that number from 100 to 150 to 250 etcetera, that’s where our focus really needs to be.”

Link to the DOE report:

http://sz0109.wc.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/AP2011PRESSRelease.pdf?auth=co&loc=en_US&id=186001&part=2

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