To the Editor:
In "Stop Letting High-School Courses Count for College Credit" (The Chronicle, January 1), Michael Mendillo presents an indictment not so much of Advanced Placement but of those who misuse it. He suggests that the original intent of AP was legitimate; true to its name, AP once provided a means for academically talented students to be placed in more advanced courses after matriculating to college. Over the years, AP has metamorphosed into a résumé-builder for high-school students who can manage to get a 4 or 5 on the tests, for which they prepare while sitting in high-school courses labeled "AP English," "AP Biology," "AP Physics," etc. Parents, guidance counselors, administrators, and politicians push students to get as many AP courses as they can on their high-school transcripts.
Mr. Mendillo questions this perversion of the original intent of AP and asks why we allow the College Board to "decide what constitutes general education for our graduates." He believes students are thus deprived of taking general-education courses as college freshmen from scholars and researchers in their respective disciplines. He even proposes that colleges consider having students wait to take general-education courses until they are upperclassmen, when they will have more appreciation of the opportunity.
We agree with much of what Mr. Mendillo writes, particularly the notion that the College Board has a lock on what students should know in introductory college courses. As he points out, no faculty members have participated in defining the content of these courses as representatives of their own universities.
But Mr. Mendillo has a bifurcated notion of education: High school is high school and college is college and never the twain shall meet. He is, of course, entitled to his vision of education. But there is another pedagogically and academically robust concept of education, that of a seamless system. Artificial breaks in a continuum of gaining knowledge and skills become smooth transitions in which curricula are aligned and faculty members communicate across the great divides that separate the system at intervals. A favorite sport in Mr. Mendillo's segmented approach to education is to blame inadequate outcomes on the segment beneath the one in which one currently operates. College professors know those high-school teachers are not preparing high-school students properly for college, right?
We also agree with the headline on Mr. Mendillo's article. We should not let high-school courses count for college credit. But one can agree with that concept and still believe that college courses can be taught effectively in high schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more high schools provide their students with the opportunity to take college courses than offer AP courses. Today many institutions of higher learning partner with high schools to provide that opportunity in the high-school building; over 200 of these programs are members of the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships, or NACEP. One-third of these have earned NACEP accreditation through a rigorous self-study and peer-review process. These programs adhere to the highest academic standards that ensure that college courses taught in high schools are indeed the college courses as taught on the campus of the sponsoring institution.
The educational philosophy behind concurrent enrollment is that curriculum alignment, faculty collaboration, and professional development combine to create an early college academic experience. High-school instructors are certified by the sponsoring postsecondary department for which they teach and must have academic training equivalent to that of an adjunct professor. Department faculty members are responsible for orientation of their high-school colleagues and for providing continuing professional development to enhance the certified instructors' scholarly background in the content areas. Students are assessed and graded based on college standards. They are registered as nondegree students of the sponsoring institutions and receive standard transcripts from the institution, earning credits that will transfer to most other institutions. The model shows that the academic integrity of college courses can be maintained in the high-school setting.
The benefits to students are not limited to earning credits; they gain confidence and familiarity with college work. Participating college departments gain a deeper understanding of the high-school environment and the instructors who teach prospective students. High schools, instructors, and students are able to use the resources of their sponsoring institution, resources such as library databases and electronic course-management tools. As we bounce from one program to another "guaranteed" to produce results, we are ignoring the existing resources that high schools and universities can share on a basis that enriches all who participate.
The practice of awarding college credit for high-school coursework should indeed be abolished. Likewise, we should re-evaluate awarding college credit for student performance on a single exam taken on a single day, with a very limited grading scale. Let's maintain faculty control and institutional autonomy over what constitutes a college course and how to assess student learning in that course through multiple assessments over the course of a semester. When a high-school student demonstrates college readiness in a particular subject, let her advance by taking a true college course.
Gillian B. Thorne
Executive Director
Office of Early College Programs
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Conn.
Adam I. Lowe
Executive Secretary
National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships
Chapel Hill, N.C.
