Great discussion on AP Chemistry audit. I belong to the AP Chemistry listserv (through Collegeboard). I get 5-10 emails daily about this topic and the changes to the net ionics!
Janice----- Original Message ----- From: <kact@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "kact digest users" <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 1:04 AM Subject: kact Digest V2 #67
Your KACT ListServ settings are in the digest mode, meaning you will receive one email per day with all postings.If replying to this digest, please change the subject line to match the original messages subject line rather than it appearing as the "digest" subject line.Replying to this message will send it to the entire group--use individual email addresses to respond to an individual member.To post to the mailing list, send email to kact@xxxxxxxxxxxxxTo unsubscribe, change your settings (change the settings from digest mode) or to search the archives, visit //www.freelists.org/list/kact*************************************************************** ------------------------------------ kact Digest Wed, 06 Dec 2006 Volume: 02 Issue: 067 In This Issue: [KACT] Re: AP Audits from Bruce [KACT] Re: AP Audits from Bruce [KACT] Giving Finals ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 07:45:13 -0600 From: Terry Tinich <tinicht@xxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [KACT] Re: AP Audits from Bruce Sorry to say but many colleges are NOT having semester finals but just another exam (this is in many classes not just chem). We say we are prepping kids for college but themn they come home saying they never had a final. Confusing! Bruce Palmer wrote:I was looking through the guidelines for AP Chemistry and it said one double period lab per week. What Brad said about 22 recomended labs and that it was "unreasonable" to expect all labs to be completed made me think. One semester at our school is 18 weeks Do we get 14 free weeks? I think that the people on the college level don't understand the high school calendar and economics. I don't teach AP chemistry for the test. I teach the students to help them prepare for college chemistry, not replace college chemistry. My former students have said for the most part while other students struggled with chemistry, they felt for the most part very comfortable and knew what to expect. (These emails are going into the audit) I know last year there were comments about how poorly students prepared/worked for finals. I want to know what college has a final covering an entire year, and why do the AP people expect high school students to excell at one? Would it not make more sense to have 2 AP exams (fall and spring) to "better match the college experience" which is what this whole audit process is about. I think I am just going to send in what I am doing now and see what happens. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: /"Cline, Brad" <bcline@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>/ Reply-To: /kact@xxxxxxxxxxxxx/ To: /<kact@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>/ Subject: /[KACT] Re: AP Audits from Bruce/ Date: /Tue, 5 Dec 2006 08:45:24 -0600/ We are in the process of doing ours. Our AP coordinator is working with us to get some time off to work this out as it is a large amount of work to plow through. From a basic standpoint, you have to submit your syllabus including the content and lab activities you use in your course. I personally am glad to see them doing this and I understand exactly why they are doing it. As Kelly already has mentioned, there are people calling their courses AP which really don't meet the criteria. This is an effort to get the courses structured to meet the criteria, so the AP course is actually an AP course instead of AP in name only. As we entered AP, I was worried our district would only support it in name only as a "selling point" for the district. This has helped me to get the real support I need from the administration as they must help me to meet the requirements. They are supporting me in producing a double block of time for the AP Chemistry class, so that I have enough time to cover all content and cover the 22 recommended labs. We haven't started our audit process yet, but I've attended a conference on it and since my wife is the AP coordinator for our district, I have had some good inside looks at what we are going to have to do. There are manuals for helping out with this process and a good deal of info at AP Central at College Board's website. http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/courseaudit Bradley L Cline Chemistry I, Chemistry II, Physics Instructor Goddard High School 2500 S 199th St West PO Box 189 Goddard, KS 67052-0189 bcline@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *From:* kact-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:kact-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Kelly Deters *Sent:* Tuesday, December 05, 2006 8:11 AM *To:* kact@xxxxxxxxxxxxx *Subject:* [KACT] AP Audits from Bruce Bruce passed this question along to me: Also the AP audits are coming up in January. What do people think about this, what are they going to do, are they getting any help from anyone? Bruce Palmer Leavenworth High School ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stay up-to-date with your friends through the Windows Live Spaces friends list. <http://g.msn.com/8HMBENUS/2737??PS=47575> *************************************************** Replying to this email will send it to the entire group--use individual email addresses if you wish to direct a response to individual members. To post to the mailing list, send email to kact@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, change your settings or to search the archives, visit //www.freelists.org/list/kact-- Terry J. Tinich Chemistry/Physics Instructor Pomona High School Pomona, KS 66067 ------------------------------ Subject: [KACT] Re: AP Audits from Bruce Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 07:49:03 -0600 From: "Cline, Brad" <bcline@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Here is an interesting side note in the AP Audit manual for Chemistry. I have copied this out verbatim. "The AP Program has embarked on an ambitious effort, funded by the National Science Foundation to align the AP Chemistry coursed and exam with introductory courses that research identifies as best facilitation deep learning. The AP Program is concerned that the amount of content included on the AP Chemistry Exam is putting inappropriate pressure on teachers to sacrifice depth of study to breadth of coverage, and is not sufficiently fostering inquiry-based science learning. We anticipate that changes will be announced in 2007 but not implemented until, at earliest, the May 2010 AP Chemistry Exam, providing several years for raising awareness and building an understanding of these changes before they are implemented." I guess all the concerns teachers have voiced over the years might be paying off. The truth is, I never teach to an exam... right now we have to give the ACS exam for Wichita State University in our concurrent enrollment course (Chemistry II). My students did pretty well on the ACS exam last spring and their was an underlying comment from a person at WSU implying that I must teach to the test. I didn't and it would have been rather difficult to teach to the exam since last year was the first time I had ever given the exam and up to the night before I gave it, I had never seen it. I simply teach Chemistry. I do have the freedom to experiment different approaches and try different types of lab work. As long as the students do learn the subjects with depth (not breadth), they will be able to figure out most of the things being asked on the exams. I found many aspects of the ACS test (minus the free response questions) to be similar to AP. It is divided into one semester and I agree that maybe AP should consider splitting Chemistry into two separate tests as ACS did on their tests. Maybe they should split to an AP Chemistry A and AP Chemistry B to cover Gen. Chem I and II separately like you would do at the college level. ------------------------------ From: "Kelly Deters" <kellymdeters@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: [KACT] Giving Finals Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 08:03:54 -0600My mom teaches upper level biochem at the University of Central Florida andshe's not giving finals in any of her 3 courses this semester--she says she's given them 5 tests already and the semesters that she's given them a final exam it doesn't really affect their grade at the end of the semester as some assume that it does--most students' letter grades didn't change (I see that in my own courses as well--students, with a few exceptions, are remarkably consistent in grades).I personally would prefer a cumulative performance/authentic assessment thatintegrates understanding from the semester rather than a typical multiple-choice exam that I'm required to give on the last day...but whatdoes a mere teacher know that could possibly be better than administration?Kelly -----Original Message-----From: kact-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:kact-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On BehalfOf Terry Tinich Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 7:45 AM To: kact@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [KACT] Re: AP Audits from Bruce Sorry to say but many colleges are NOT having semester finals but just another exam (this is in many classes not just chem). We say we are prepping kids for college but themn they come home saying they never had a final. Confusing! ------------------------------ End of kact Digest V2 #67 *************************Your KACT ListServ settings are in the digest mode, meaning you will receive one email per day with all postings.If replying to this digest, please change the subject line to match the original messages subject line rather than it appearing as the "digest" subject line.To post to the mailing list, send email to kact@xxxxxxxxxxxxxTo unsubscribe, change your settings (change the settings from digest mode) or to search the archives, visit //www.freelists.org/list/kact
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