AP/IB Boosters Newsletter, April 27, 2003

Hi AP/IB Boosters!

Newsletter Contents

Recap, UW School of Art Open House
Recap, UW School of Engineering Open House
Washington State Advanced Placement (AP) Report
Cascade HS and Jackson HS AP Report
20th Year Anniversary of "A Nation at Risk"
Guest Authors to the AP/IB Boosters Newsletter
Summary of Events this Week

Recap, UW School of Art Open House

The UW School of Art students guided visitors through the school’s studios. The Jacob Lawrence Gallery had student work on display. Art students were excited about their school, their professors, and their work. They were also happy to explain the outreach program for this summer. Art and Art History summer courses include: Intensive Drawing, Oil Painting, Introduction to Sculpture, Roman Art History, Abstract Expressionism, History & Myth, and more. Contact the following for more details:

http://art.washington.edu/

Recap, UW School of Engineering Open House

Thousands of kids toured the UW College of Engineering exhibits on Friday and Saturday. The Kirsten Wind Tunnel was in operation testing a student designed wing foil. Three flight-quality Viking Landers were built in the United States in the 1970’s. Two are now on Mars. The third one is now at UW. It was on display. The robotics lab was open. Chemical Engineering students explained and demonstrated Nylon synthesis. Student designed and built Stirling Engines were in operation. One of the AP/IB Boosters asked the UW Mechanical Engineering student tour guide for class recommendations for high school students. She said, emphatically, "Calculus and Physics of course."

Washington State AP Report

The OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) publishes a report of the AP Exam statistics for Washington State. Over the last 5 years, there has been a steady and significant growth of AP Exam test takers in our state.
http://www.k12.wa.us/AP/documents/TrendGraph.pdf

Cascade HS and Jackson HS AP Report

Similar to the OSPI AP report, the following link has the 2003 AP Exam statistics for Cascade HS and Jackson HS.

http://www.apibboosters.org/StatisticsCascadeJacksonAP.html

After this year's (May 2003) national AP exam results are in, this report will be updated with the number of test takers scoring 3-5. The AP Exams are graded on a 1-5 scale. Grade Meaning: 5 Extremely well qualified: 4 Well qualified: 3 Qualified: 2 Possibly qualified: 1 No recommendation.

2003 AP Exam Subjects at Cascade and Jackson High Schools with More Than 2 Test Takers:

Cascade HS

Biology:15 students

English Language and Composition: 41 students

English Literature and Composition: 9 students

Studio Art: 14 students

World History: 19 students

Jackson HS

US History: 37 students

20th Year Anniversary of "A Nation at Risk"

Twenty years ago (April 1983) the National Commission on Excellence in Education published a disturbing portrait of American education. Those of us old enough to have been adults in 1983 will remember this report as widely reported in all forms of news media. Some of the findings included:

Secondary school curricula have been homogenized, diluted, and diffused to the point that they no longer have a central purpose. In effect, we have a cafeteria style curriculum in which the appetizers and desserts can easily be mistaken for the main courses. Students have migrated from vocational and college preparatory programs to "general track" courses in large numbers. The proportion of students taking a general program of study has increased from 12 percent in 1964 to 42 percent in 1979.
The teacher preparation curriculum is weighted heavily with courses in "educational methods" at the expense of courses in subjects to be taught. A survey of 1,350 institutions training teachers indicated that 41 percent of the time of elementary school teacher candidates is spent in education courses, which reduces the amount of time available for subject matter courses.
Students "Minimum competency" examinations (now required in 37 States) falls short of what is needed, as the "minimum" tends to become the "maximum," thus lowering educational standards for all.
In England and other industrialized countries, it is not unusual for academic high school students to spend 8 hours a day at school, 220 days per year. In the United States, by contrast, the typical school day lasts 6 hours and the school year is 180 days.
In many other industrialized nations, courses in mathematics (other than arithmetic or general mathematics), biology, chemistry, physics, and geography start in grade 6 and are required of all students. The time spent on these subjects, based on class hours, is about three times that spent by even the most science-oriented U.S. students, i.e., those who select 4 years of science and mathematics in secondary school.
In most schools, the teaching of study skills is haphazard and unplanned. Consequently, many students complete high school and enter college without disciplined and systematic study habits.

The "Nation at Risk" study, which is the "source document" for the above, is available at the following US Department of Education link:

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html

This year, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University published a follow up report: "Our Schools and Our Future ...Are We Still at Risk?"

It is available to purchase and, better yet, is available for free on-line at the Hoover Institution’s web site:

http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/books/osof.html

Let us know what you think. Both of these reports have been added to our list of pertinent research reports:

http://www.apibboosters.org/ResearchReports.html

Guest Authors to the AP/IB Boosters Newsletter

We encourage and actively engage all members of our community (Parents, Students, Teachers, Administrators, Community Members) to write articles for the AP/IB Boosters Newsletter. We welcome all points of views. We will only edit certain aspects of submitted articles, such as, personal attacks. When applicable, we do ask that you provide your "source" for your article. I realize this is sometimes tough . . . We fail in this area also . . as an organization, we have a renewed emphasis to provide the source for our articles.

Summary of Events this Week

Apr 30 Wed: 2:20 PM - 4:15 PM: Jackson High School Faculty Room, Jackson Leadership Council Meeting
May 1 Thu: 7:00 PM: Jackson High School, PTSA Meeting

Link to JHS April Calendar
http://www.everett.wednet.edu/schools/high/hmjackson/calendar/april03.html

Link to AP/IB Boosters Scholarly Events Listing
http://www.apibboosters.org/events/Events.html

Link to Latest JHS PTSA Newsletter
http://www.jhsptsa.org/news.html

Thank you,

Todd Aagard
Chairperson

AP/IB Boosters
Advanced Placement Opportunities for All Students
www.apibboosters.org
info@apibboosters.org