[Phys-L] Re: Texts for AP courses

[wlrdavis at EARTHLINK.NET (Wes Davis)]

The following is from the AP Physics list.  There's a lot of information
about this on the College Board web site.  No specific info on who's
choosing the texts, tho.  There seems to be a lot that's tentative.  See
also

                http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/article/0,3045,151-165-0-46361,00.html

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The College Board recently announced a major change to the AP Program. To
assist teachers and administrators in improving the quality of individual
AP courses, an annual "AP Course Audit" process was announced, to take
effect for courses that will be offered in the 2007-08 academic year.

The College Board firmly believes that there is no "one-size-fits-all"
approach to designing and teaching an effective AP course, just as there
is no one model for teaching a good college course. One of the hallmarks
of the Advanced Placement Program is the flexibility teachers have to
develop their own curricula and bring their individual creativity to the
classroom. Accordingly, the College Board has not and will not mandate a
set curriculum for AP courses. However, many teachers are either trying to
cover the entire range of topics that could appear in a college-level
course and are therefore sacrificing depth to breadth, or conversely, are
not teaching truly college-level subject matter while labeling their
course "AP." For these reasons, the College Board is working with college
and secondary school faculty nationwide this fall to identify a handful of
essential elements that universally exist in corresponding college courses
for each of the AP subjects. The AP Course Audit will require schools to
indicate inclusion of these elements in their AP syllabi, or to describe
how their course nonetheless meets college expectations for rigor and
therefore merits the AP label. Another benefit of the AP Course Audit is
that it will serve as an annual bridge between college curricula and AP
teachers, providing school leaders and teachers with a set of messages
that high school AP programs can use to keep their AP courses on the
cutting edge of the discipline.

Please take a look at the preliminary drafts of the AP Course Audit
requirements, posted on AP Central:
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/courseaudit. Many of these draft
requirements will change, but we wanted to release these draft forms for
the purpose of generating dialogue and discussion this fall that can
inform our committees' development of the final 2007-08 AP Course Audit
criteria that will be announced in February 2006. Feedback can be sent via
the Web through an AP Course Audit feedback form posted on AP Central.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can provide to help us shape
these criteria in ways that will support you and your work and promote
best practices.

Sincerely,

Celeste T. McGee

Course related websites:
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/physicsb
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/physicscem
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/physicscmech

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----- Original Message -----
From: "jbellina" <jbellina@SAINTMARYS.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2005 4:43 AM
Subject: Texts for AP courses


> I just read in the Aug 11 (tells you how my life has been going)
> Wall Street Journal that the College Board folks are going to tighten
> up requirements for AP courses.  In part, teachers will have to
> select from an approved set of texts.  Anyone know who is doing the
> approving?
>
> joe