CHS students want more AP courses for more college credits. This is a great idea, especially if you want to go to college with the credits of the class.
AP stands for “Advanced Placement”; these courses are associated with course-end assessments that, if a student scores well enough, are translated into college credits. The College Board, the company that administers the SAT and PSAT, created the AP program to allow high-achieving high school students a chance to get ahead on their college education. The AP program offers 38 classes, though most high schools offer only a handful of AP courses. CHS currently offers Biology, Art History, 2d Art, and Chemistry as AP classes. College-in-the-high-school classes currently being offered at CHS include UW Planets, UW Astronomy, UW Chemistry, UW Pre-Calculus, UW Calculus I/II, EWU College Composition, EWU Intro to Literature, EWU Chicano Studies, EWU US History, EWU Intro to Psychology, EWU Lifespan Psychology, and EWU Intro to Leadership.
Mr. Massey teaches Planets, Astronomy, and Pre-Calculus at CHS. Massey’s grading “really depends on the class. [For] the math classes I teach through the University of Washington, we pretty much follow their grading plan. They give us the same mid-terms and the same final exam they give the students at the University of Washington. The grades for the UW, the professor there look at how our CHS students did compared to how the UW students did and gives equivalent grades. So, they give less grade than you get for UW. For CHS, we can give retakes as the UW doesn’t do retakes there, and we can do it completely separately. So, with the grading it’s kind of different for UW grade from their CHS grade.”
“For Astronomy and Planets, the Astronomy Department at the UW is more open-ended. Whatever grade a student earns in the class is the grade they get at UW. I can write my own tests, UW check to ensure that we’re doing everything; that were teaching everything they’re doing at UW, about the same rigger level and then the grades are pretty much the same, so it’s a little bit easier as far as that goes,” stated Massey.
Taking an AP class doesn’t guarantee that a student will earn college credit. The student must pass the class and the corresponding AP exam, usually with a score of at least three (on a scale of one to five), to qualify for college credit at most institutions.
Science teacher, Mr. Stubblefield teaches AP Biology and says the benefits of taking an AP class are “classes are more rigorous; they come with more material and, help prepare students that think they might be going off to college and thinking to go for a college level course. Plus, rather than getting four or five credits, if the students do well on their exam, they can get up to 12 or even 15 credits depending on which college they applied to.”
CHS Counselor, Mrs. Schafer recommends “students to take AP classes if they want to take advanced classes. Colleges want to see that kids have taken the most rigorous classes that this school offers when you're looking at competitive colleges. So, the more rigorous the class the better want to see that you pushed yourself to take those classes. So, when we offer those AP classes its good for students that want to take Advanced classes to take them.”
Students should challenge themselves and take the rigorous courses being offered at CHS. Especially underclassmen who want to start up early get a head start on their college education. By earning college credits early and taking advanced classes students save time and money in the future. It can challenge students academically and give them an idea of what college is like. It's a win-win.