Jay asked me to slap him around.
Reporters frequently query EWA searching for expert opinions on pushing (I mean, encouraging!) AP classes for all students. I think the New York Times did a good job yesterday of rounding up the prevailing schools of thought.
I think there’s a lot of reporting to be done on Advanced Placement, as its popularity grows so fast. Among the topics to look at: what students are and are not getting from AP classes (high- and low-achievers alike), whether teachers are well-qualified to teach them, how the test does or doesn’t change the college experience (credits, anyone?), and the degree to which schools are driving kids into AP because of academic value or their Newsweek rankings, or both.
I like my colleague Jay Mathews a lot, but he knows I am not a fan of his Challenge Index and what’s been made of it. Not only is it enormously shallow to rank schools by a single metric—how many kids take AP and IB tests—in order to label them the Best High Schools, it also implies that Advanced Placement courses as put forth by the College Board, as well as International Baccalaureate, are the only worthwhile ways to challenge students. I have not reported on this topic enough to offer firsthand counterarguments, but the questions are always forefront in my mind.
When I first started my blog and vowed not to single out reporters for criticism, Jay protested and offered himself up. So here you go, Jay! Happy holidays! And, as always, I look forward to the Mathews Christmas letter.
I think there’s a lot of reporting to be done on Advanced Placement, as its popularity grows so fast. Among the topics to look at: what students are and are not getting from AP classes (high- and low-achievers alike), whether teachers are well-qualified to teach them, how the test does or doesn’t change the college experience (credits, anyone?), and the degree to which schools are driving kids into AP because of academic value or their Newsweek rankings, or both.
I like my colleague Jay Mathews a lot, but he knows I am not a fan of his Challenge Index and what’s been made of it. Not only is it enormously shallow to rank schools by a single metric—how many kids take AP and IB tests—in order to label them the Best High Schools, it also implies that Advanced Placement courses as put forth by the College Board, as well as International Baccalaureate, are the only worthwhile ways to challenge students. I have not reported on this topic enough to offer firsthand counterarguments, but the questions are always forefront in my mind.
When I first started my blog and vowed not to single out reporters for criticism, Jay protested and offered himself up. So here you go, Jay! Happy holidays! And, as always, I look forward to the Mathews Christmas letter.
posted by Linda Perlstein at
5:48 PM
7 Comments:
I'd use the word "bogus" instead of (or along with) "shallow." And I like Jay too, but the the "challenge index" is false and misleading.
Wait - is this your "slapping around"?
That's it? Geez, I slap Jay around much harder than that, especially about his IB bias! -Lisa
Jay is clueless... and needs to be beaten.. LOL J/K.
Ask a teacher. IB is a scam. Brainwashing. The UN.
Read this!
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2009/06/05/weaponized-education-controlling-tomorro
Thanks. I needed that. I was happy the Times opened the debate, but frustrated by the shallowness of many of the responses. Of course AP (and IB) are full of flaws, like all human enterprises. The question the Times commenters seemed to avoid, the most important question for me, is: okay, you don't like AP. So tell me what we have for these kids you don't think should be taking AP that will, right now, be as good for them educationally? People have many big dreams about what we could do instead, but while we are waiting for them to come true, no AP means back to watered down honors courses, or worse. There is some data out of Texas indicating that the one other possible option, dual enrollment courses at local community colleges, also do not prepare as well for college. The best approach is to improve the AP and IB courses and tests we have, which is what the College Board is trying to do right now in a significant way, and what great AP teachers do every day.
Public school administrators are simple people. They can understand the Challenge Index and press for conformity. They cannot accomplish much else and most have no feel for curriculum anyway.
You may see all of the nuances, but the Newsweek Challenge Index offers the HIGHEST EXPECTED VALUE, which is equal to (Probability of Success) * (Value of Success). Now that's real math, and all of the bellyaching doesn't offer a higher expectation. No one, except maybe Core Knowledge, has a better, more attainable, more understandable method to improve schools.
Support the Index. Other suggestions don't offer higher expected value. 'nuff said chattering class.
Actually, the Challenge Index misleads readers badly, by using one lone, highly dubious criterion. It's true that the explanation of the criterion is displayed prominently along with the Challenge Index. I think the problem is that it's so bizarre to use just one criterion -- and that particular criterion is in itself so bizarre -- that people read right through the explanation; it's too weird to register to them.
Since I'm not currently a working journalist but rather a school activist who discusses education frequently with others in my "niche market," I've had many conversations about the Challenge Index. Here's the way the discussion always goes:
The Other Party begins by commenting on one or another school and its place on the list.
Me: But do you understand that that ranking is based entirely on one criterion -- the percentage of students who take the AP tests, and not even how well they do on the tests? It really has nothing to do with how good the school is in any other way. And any school that's rich enough to pay the test fees can easily manipulate the results.
Other Party: Oh, no, the number of students who take the AP tests is just part of the calculation.
Me: (Back up my point by locating disclaimer in magazine or online.)
Other Party: Wow, I see what you mean. That's just insane. (Or some similar expression of disbelief and disapproval.)
I've had this discussion many, many times. Never, not once, has anyone who was giving credibility to the Challenge Index been aware already of what the criterion is. And never, not once, has anyone responded by defending the criterion once it was clarified to them. The Other Party always winds up agreeing that the Challenge Index is not a credible or valid ranking of the quality of high schools.
Disclaimers:
-- I know I sound like an obnoxious know-it-all in these discussions (however, I maintain that it's the bizarreness of the Challenge Index and the degree to which it misleads the public that force me to behave that way).
-- One might wonder if I'm such an intimidating or highly strung personality that the Other Party feels compelled to agree with me once I get my dander up. But that doesn't seem to be the case, because other people disagree with me all the time about other issues.
And I'm emphasizing again the APPEARANCE of the conflict of interest, which violates journalistic codes of ethics. Newsweek is owned by the Washington Post Co., and so is Kaplan, the test-prep powerhouse. According to coverage I've read in the past, Kaplan is the profit-making operation in the Post's stable. A high-profile feature that strongly encourages more AP testing is likely to result in more business for Kaplan. No, I'm not saying Jay is explicitly selling out or trying to help his employer reap more profits by building up Kaplan's business. But the Challenge Index criterion presents the APPEARANCE of conflict of interest, and journalistic ethics call for avoiding the APPEARANCE of conflict of interest. Linda and Jay, am I interpreting standard journalistic ethics incorrectly?
With the news business collapsing, journalists no longer have job security or stability. Ethics, standards and credibility are what we have left. We should think long and hard about being so cavalier with them.
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