The College Board is eliminating only one Advanced Placement computer-science course after the 2008-9 academic year, the U.S. Association for Computing Machinery is telling its membership. The group, made up of computer scientists in academe, government, and industry, says people may have been misled by a recent Washington Post article that stated that the College Board is doing away with AP Computer Science AB. That’s true, but the more popular AP Computer Science A will survive.
The computing group posted on its blog a recent e-mail message from the College Board saying that it has an “intensified commitment to AP Computer Science A.” The AB course is more comprehensive than the A course, and includes an analysis of algorithms, data structures, and data abstraction.
The computing group speculates that factors other than declining participation may have led to the College Board’s decision to eliminate AP Computer Science AB. “With federal policy focused on testing in reading and math,” the group states, “core courses receive many more resources and attention than electives.” —Andrea L. Foster
