Berkley High School AP Government & AP Economics Parent Meeting Ira Goldberg Gordon Petrous

What is Advanced Placement (AP)? College level curriculum endorsed and sponsored by The College Board Cooperative endeavor between secondary schools and colleges and universities Provide students with the opportunity to take college-level courses while still in high school Students gain college-level skills May earn college credit

AP Exam AP Government: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 AP Macroeconomics: Thursday, May Exams are taken at CASA, and students must provide their own transportation Registration in early February $89 per scheduled exam

AP Exam Students are advised of results in late June Results are on a 1-5 scale w/ correlations to college level grading. Score of 5 = Highly qualified = “A” 4 = Very qualified = “B” 4 = Very qualified = “B” 3 = Competent = “C” 3 = Competent = “C” 2 = Not Qualified = “D” 2 = Not Qualified = “D” 1 = Not Qualified = “E” 1 = Not Qualified = “E”

AP Exam AP Government –60 multiple choice questions, 45 minutes (50% of exam grade) –4 Free Response Questions, 100 minutes (50% of exam grade) AP Macroeconomics –60 multiple choice question, 70 minutes (66.67% of exam grade) –3 Free Response Questions, 60 minutes (33.3% of exam grade)

AP and College Success “One of the best standard predictors of academic success at Harvard is performance on Advanced Placement Examinations.” Bill Fitzsimmons Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid Harvard University

NACAC Admission Trends Survey, 2001 Factors Influencing College Admission Decisions

Student Group AP Exam Grade of 3, 4, 5 AP Exam Grade of 1, 2 Took AP course, but not exam African-American 28% higher 22% higher 16% higher Hispanic 28% higher 12% higher 10% higher White 33% higher 22% higher 20% higher Low-Income 26% higher 17% higher 12% higher Not Low-Income 34% higher 23% higher 19% higher Source: Chrys Dougherty, Lynn Mellor, and Shuling Jian, The Relationship Between Advanced Placement and College Graduation (National Center for Educational Accountability, 2006) Impact of AP on 5-Year College Graduation Rates

Additional Benefits of the AP Exam Immediate Benefits: Students have an opportunity to earn college credit by achieving certain scores on the AP exam.  BHS AP Government and Macroeconomics students may have earned as much as $124,000 collectively or $2,400 individually. Automatic grade of “A” in AP Government or AP Economics.

Additional Benefits of the Exam Notable achievements to list on college applications: AP Scholar: Students who score 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams AP Scholar with Honor: Students who score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams AP Scholar with Distinction: Students who average at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams National AP Scholar: Granted to students in the United States who receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams

BHS Exam Results AP Government and Politics Exam, 2012 ScoreBHSNational #%#% %30, % %35, % %59, % %58, % 188.1%55, % Mean Pass Rate62.6%52.4%

BHS Exam Results AP Macroeconomics Exam, 2012 ScoreBHSNational #%#% % % % % % % % % % % Mean Pass Rate69.3%54.9%

BHS Exam Results Open door policy 10 th grade population: –AP Government: 18, th graders took the exam out of a population of 218,000 (8.25%) –AP Macroeconomics: 2, th graders took the exam out of a population of 95,000 (2.8%) –BHS students represented 3.25% of the global 10 th grade Macroeconomics testing population! Most schools teach the curriculum over 1 year.

BHS AP GOV / AP ECON Rigor ous curriculum –Nightly HW; Frequent exams. Extra point towards GPA “Strength of schedule” on college applications

Objectives  Not to teach to the test, but teach students the skills necessary to be successful on the AP exam using an AP Government or AP Macroeconomics curriculum.  To help each student achieve their objective  Move students from a “1” to a “2”; a “2” to a “3”; a “3” to a “4”; and a “4” to a “5”

We’re Here to Help Spring review: –Weekly after school AP Government review sessions starting in March –Free review class! –Classes run approximately 1 hour (+/- 15 minutes) –Registration, and commitment to attend is required. –Exact starting date, and day of the week that review sessions will be held TBD.

We’re Here to Help Spring tutoring sessions –After school and Saturday Open lunch

Parents: You Make the Difference Engage your student in conversation about things talked about in class. Hold students accountable for completing HW and for completing reading assignments. Purchase Barron’s exam review book, and make sure that your child is using it. Do review problems with you child.

AP Close Up Trip Sunday, May 19, 2013 – Friday, May 24, 2013 Immersion study of our government at work. AP tailored curriculum More than monuments, memorials, museums; hands on access to individuals in government’s inner circles eature=relmfu eature=relmfuwww.CloseUp.org

Close Up Program Fees: $1,299 –3 meals per day –All transportation while in Washington, DC. –Quality hotel accommodations –24 hour supervision, including night monitor –All educational programming –All entrance fees and gratuities –Transportation to and from Washington, DC. Transportation Fees: $405 –Airfare from Detroit Metro to Washington area airport. –Actual cost of airfare and transfers may be lower. Fundraising: $200-$450 per student AP Close Up Trip

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