AP courses are said to prepare students for college and help them with admissions policies.

But do they really?

Recently, there has been a lot of debate about the effectiveness of AP courses.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, AP is no longer the gold standard that it once was. “Many colleges have stopped giving it weight in admissions and have raised the bar for those who want to receive course credit for their AP test scores.”

Still, according to an article in the Seattle Times this week, the new Superintendent for Seattle’s high schools, Maria Goodloe-Johnson,  plans to add tougher, “standards based” programs, like AP courses, at low-income schools as a way to attract more upper-income, white families back to their neighborhood schools.

So what gives?

Some argue that standardized tests are a great way of putting high schools on the map, by showing that they provide students with extra tools to compete in the college admissions.

Others argue that standardized tests and courses gloss over important information. Students are too busy cramming and studying to develop deep critical reasoning skills.

 Web Hutchins criticized AP course in the Seattle Times:  “On behalf of the thousands of Seattle kids on the losing side of the achievement gap, we need to admit that this is not the type of curricula that will engage them. Let’s not pretend that adoption of AP “rigor” will inspire ninth-grade kids with sixth-grade reading levels to stay in school. Likewise, let’s not pretend that the standardized AP approach of a “mad dash through the chapter and a test on Friday” is the best curricula we can give our most-highly-skilled students.”

He calls for improving Seattle high school education by cutting class sizes so that students get more one on one attention.

What do you think about this debate?

Are AP courses and exams overrated and antithetical to true learning? Should colleges place much value on AP scores during the college admissions process?