Why AP and IB Schools Soar

I'd like to share my personal experience with 4 unmotivated students that I taught in AP Chemistry three years ago. "Sleepy" was on new medication and tried to put his head down every day; "Grumpy" blamed all his problems on his old chemistry teacher and on me; "Sweetie" ate lunch with me but rarely did her homework and didn't take the class seriously; "Angry" threw rubber stoppers and tried to burn random things in lab.

All finished the year with low scores on the AP test and poor second semester grades.

Why have them in there at all? Well, the main reason in 2004 was that I didn't get to pre-select students. But knowing what I know now, I would welcome them all into my AP Chemistry class.

All four former students have stopped by in the last few days to say hi. All have reported earning As and Bs in freshman chemistry. Sleepy and Grumpy are both in Engineering, one at VA Tech and one at GA Tech. Angry and Sweetie are both in the University of Maryland system.

Angry said he never had to study for Chemistry, unlike his roommates. Sweetie said she learned so much in AP that her Chem class is easy now. All the students reported that they had been unmotivated for one reason or another in my class in 2004. Some had family or medical issues that interfered with their learning, some said they were just lazy.

My main point is that they ALL reported that they learned a ton in AP Chemistry, even though their performance in the class did not indicate such. They told me that their performance in college Chemistry was due to what they learned in AP Chemistry. They shared that their classmates who never had AP Chem in high school were really struggling with the college content and the way it was taught. But for my students, the content had finally "clicked."

There are a million reasons why a student isn't motivated, and another million issues that affect teaching and learning. My four anecdotal stories might not apply to your kids. But it's worth thinking about if you have any say over who takes your class.

Trying to challenge all students in high school, as Preuss and Cross do, happens far less often than it should. But the number of schools and teachers making that their goal is growing, and they ought to be recognized and rewarded.