An Opportunity for Cooperation Between High School and College/University Faculty

Nancy V. Ridenour, Ithaca High School

Eleanor D. Siebert, Mount St. Mary's College

Students receive a score of 1 through 5 on the examination, where 5 indicates that the student is "extremely well qualified" and knowledgeable about the course material, 4 indicates "well qualified," 3 indicates "qualified," 2 is "possibly qualified," and ETS makes "no recommendation" for students receiving a score of 1. Students who demonstrate knowledge covered in the AP science course with scores above 3 normally receive some credit from the university upon enrollment. However there is vast inconsistency around the country as to how colleges and universities view AP courses and how undergraduate credit is awarded. Nearly all colleges give full credit to students who achieve a score of 5 on the AP exam, and many give full credit for a score of 4, thereby exempting the student from introductory courses and giving the student undergraduate credit for the introductory courses. The American Council on Education has accredited the AP Program and recommends that colleges and universities award credit for AP examination grades of 3 or above. Virtually all colleges and universities regard 3 as a minimum score for awarding undergraduate credit, but many institutions do not exempt students from the introductory course with this "minimum" score. According to the College Board, "Over 90 percent of the nation's colleges and universities offer credit and/or placement into advanced courses" to high school students on the basis of grades and AP examination scores; however, each college may set its own policy.

Why do some colleges hesitate to give the students AP credit or advise them to re-take college introductory courses? Perhaps there is a lack of understanding about the AP courses among college and university professors or those in charge of setting the entry standards. Some typical questions asked by college faculty include: Who determines the curriculum and, therefore, the test used to assess understanding? In other words, just how representative of a college course are these AP experiences? Meanwhile, high school teachers ask questions that can be distilled as: Is there distrust of high school teachers and their ability to successfully teach a college level course?

Are you surprised at the differences in the questions asked by college teachers and the high school teachers? We were, and we recognize a necessity to increase cooperation between the secondary and post secondary levels of education to work for the success of our very best science students who opt to take AP courses.

First, however, it is important to know that the AP Program is described by its development, administration and evaluation as a "cooperative educational endeavor between secondary schools and colleges and universities." The prerequisites for an AP course are similar to those for introductory college courses. In chemistry for example, the AP Program strongly recommends that a first course in high school chemistry be prerequisite for the AP course; in addition, the recommended mathematics is the successful completion of a second-year algebra course. The AP Program provides course descriptions to high school teachers which have been developed by a committee of college faculty and AP teachers. These descriptions are updated on the basis of regular surveys of college curricula (see, for example, J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74, 595). Generally, college-level textbooks are used in the courses; however, the AP Program does not dictate the textbook choice, schedule of lessons or teaching technique. It has, however, developed a guide to investigative labs to be covered in the AP course and that are tested on the free response portion of the AP exam. This was done as a response to higher education concerns and to emphasize the importance of laboratory work in introductory science courses. The ETS also involves college faculty during development, validation and scoring of the AP examination. What do the AP scores mean in terms of achievement in college courses? The AP tests are assessed for reliability by administering the tests to students in comparable college courses; the AP scores are set at half a grade better than the average for college students receiving A, B, C and D during reliability studies. This means that a student who receives a score of 5 is doing work comparable to an A student in the college course; a score of 4 is correlated to a medium to high B grade, etc.

Several advantages are offered by the Advanced Placement program. Motivated high school students, for example, have the opportunity to study a subject in depth. It is in these courses that they can develop skills that will be important to successful study in college. Educational institutions also share in the benefits: high schools often find that AP courses enhance students' confidence and academic ability and that the high school faculty enjoy teaching higher level courses. Colleges and universities benefit by having students who possess the study and analytical skills required for success in college work; and by having students who can be more flexible in college course scheduling (i.e., they may be able to take double majors, do undergraduate research, or other advanced work). Recognizing the advantages of AP work to students, to the educational institutions and their faculty, how can the level of collaboration between scientists, science educators, and teacher educators that is necessary to the success of AP science courses be increased? What types of partnerships would be useful? There are many answers to these questions and we will attempt to address some of them here.

Professional Development: AP teachers need to be continually exposed to opportunities in science. Presently, there are several summer institutes for AP teachers held throughout the United States, but there is room for more. We would encourage scientists, science educators, and teachers educators to collaborate with AP teachers in their area to develop summer institutes that include instruction in the content area, hands-on laboratory investigations that are both included in the AP lab manuals and are beyond the manuals, instruction in teaching and assessment strategies, and that give the teachers exposure to research in the content area. There are many examples throughout the country where scientists, science educators, and teacher educators have become involved in science teacher's professional development. The models discussed in the National Research Council publication, "The Role of Scientists in the Professional Development of Science Teachers" are useful references for successful programs. It should be noted that the most successful programs involve partnerships between the scientists and teachers at all stages of professional development, from establishing the curriculum to be covered, to selection of participants, to writing the grant, and to developing the laboratory investigations that would be central to the program. Professional development can be as short as a few hours after school to several weeks during the summer vacation. The latter has much greater impact on long term changes in instruction.

Home-town collaboration. Each institution of higher learning has high schools in its immediate area. This affords an incredible opportunity to nurture collaboration among college and high school faculties. Who should initiate this type of collaboration? This is a shared responsibility, but please don't wait for someone else to reach out. Definite and immediate efforts are needed in order to reduce the isolation that often exists between the two levels of instruction.

High school teachers list their needs as follows: time to prepare and instruct labs, time to do research on the subjects to be covered in class, lack of finances to support a hands-on lab course, lack of finances for field trips, isolation from research, lack of technology in the classroom or at home to communicate with the Internet, lack of administrative support for the AP courses (scheduling adequate time for the course, scheduling the rest of the teacher's day) and the demands upon the teachers of AP courses, lack of supplies and equipment, and lack of professional development. Some of these frustrations (e.g., lack of time and financial resources) may be shared by college faculty, while others can be addressed by cooperative efforts. If you are a college science faculty, call the AP teachers and invite them to your lab/office to learn about their programs and how you might be able to work together to strengthen the AP course they teach. Remember, their brightest high school students may be in your college classroom in a year or two! Some ways in which you might be able to help follow:

If there is a lack of administrative support in the school district, ask what might be the most appropriate avenue for effective assistance. It might be to call the board of education, the superintendent, the principal, or the department chair. Subtle and not so subtle pressure can have a positive impact if handled correctly.

Many college laboratories have equipment and supplies that are "excessed" periodically. You might have old microscopes, computers, Spectronic 20's, pH meters, or glassware that will soon be replaced by more current versions. Make them available to the AP teachers for use in their labs. With shrinking public school budgets, college donations can be very helpful to the high school lab sciences. In addition to making unused equipment available to AP programs, many colleges have established lending libraries of equipment that can be sent to the high schools for use over a short period of time. Permanent college staff maintains the equipment and expendables. This equipment includes electrophoresis set-ups, digital cameras, video cameras for use with video microscopes, aquatic sampling equipment, etc.

Do you have room in your lab for a teacher after school or during the summer? Do you have grants that would pay the teacher to work in your lab to obtain experience with current research? Do you have room in your lab for students to do research projects after school or during the summer? All of these opportunities would enhance an AP program.

Are you able to give presentations to students in the public schools about your research or other expertise? Are you willing to collaborate with the AP teacher to develop laboratory investigations that are relevant to the AP students and are within the constraints of a high school lab? Are you willing to sponsor a field trip to your laboratory or that of colleague to give students a perspective they cannot attain in the high school setting. Seeing an electron microscope in operation is an incredible experience for a high school student (or teacher) who might otherwise be left with a description from a textbook.

Technology is entering high schools at an increasing rate, but many teachers still do not have computers in the classroom or Internet access for themselves or their students. Again, if colleges have older models of computers that could be used in the classroom for word processing, Internet access, or with interfaces in computer-based labs, the colleges can enhance the AP programs. Colleges might also have Internet accounts that can be made available to the AP teachers to reduce the teachers' isolation from colleagues around the state and country.

High school AP teachers work very hard to give their students the best program they can. Many teachers would appreciate and enjoy the collaboration with college faculty to enhance their AP courses. Working together, high school and college/university science faculty can enable students to achieve the best possible understanding of science. We encourage scientists, science educators, and teacher educators to collaborate among themselves at the college/university levels and to collaborate with AP teachers to enhance the AP courses.

In 1994 the NSTA approved and published a position statement that affirms the value of K-16 coordination. The position asserts that a coordination of learning experiences across grade levels allows students to construct a coherent framework of science principles which facilitates learning, and that this coherence should be evident throughout the formal years of schooling. It is particularly important in the sciences where ever-increasing levels of complexity build on previously-held concepts. The Advanced Placement Program of the College Board is a program which can bring together college and high school science teachers in an attempt to coordinate expectations, curriculum, and pedagogy. Cooperative activities may focus on the content and teaching of introductory science courses, on offering experiences that will nurture young scientists, or on providing professional development opportunities for teachers. Many students learn efficiently in the AP setting, where the classroom setting is more familiar, competition is less, and the faculty-student ratio is greater than it may be in a college introductory science course. If we want to increase the number of students pursuing scientific careers and to increase the number of scientifically literate citizens, it is important to nurture education at all levels of instruction. Those teaching college-level science courses in high schools deserve the full support of college and university faculty.

High school and college faculty can learn from each other by working together--and our students WIN!

Reprinted with permission from NSTA Publications, copyright October 1997, from the _Journal of College Science Teaching_, ,National Science Teachers Association, 1840 WilsonBoulevard, Arlington, VA 22201-3000.

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