Around the time of Advanced Placement testing, it is common to see overwhelmed, cramming students and teachers. Many teachers are not even finished covering the curriculum of their AP subjects when testing time comes around. Other schools in surrounding districts start school in early or mid-August and have that extra time to adequately get through the material. Although we cannot change the dates of AP tests, we can alter the school year and start earlier, in August, in order to give students and teachers more time to prepare for exams.
Students are forced to rush through important topics and memorize facts rather than gaining the all-important understanding of the material. “We really believe that the new AP needs to be anchored in a curriculum that focuses on what students need to be able to do with their knowledge,” said College Board Vice President Trevor Packer. Covering a thousand-page long textbook in three-fourths of a year is an extremely daunting task, and having more time to do it would make all the difference. “I think starting in August would benefit everybody,” said AP Art History Teacher Lauriel Adsit.
It’s no wonder AP classes and tests have gained a certain amount of prestige and popularity, as they allow students to gain college credit in high school. AP testing has grown in its (relatively) brief time in schools, with 1.8 million students taking 3.2 million tests, according to the New York Times. Many courses, mainly the sciences and history, have also been criticized for inundating students with facts that they need to memorize and rushing through important topics. Biology, with 172 thousand test-takers this year, is one of the worst offenders (nytimes.com).
“I think that it’s time that America realized we don’t have students that need to have the summer off. I think we should have school year round, personally, with breaks of two or three weeks,” said English Teacher Paula Perretta. It’s not only students who are stressing out about AP testing either. “Some of the students look at the book and say, ‘My gosh, it’s just like an encyclopedia,’ and when new AP teachers encounter it, ‘they almost want to start sobbing,’” said Teacher Joan Carlson, a Massachusetts AP Biology teacher, in an interview with the New York Times (nytimes.com). “If we had more time in class, we’d have more time to cover the huge amount of material that we need to know for the test,” said Senior Gabby Ferrer.
Though some may want to keep the school year the way it is, it would be beneficial to students and teachers to shift it with an earlier start—and a later end. Keeping the school year the same length but shifting the dates will not cause districts to lose any money, but would be extremely benefitial to students, especially those in advanced placement classes. The fact is, the pros exceed the cons in this case, and our districts can sacrifice a small change in order to further student success.