The Reply from College Board/AP

I thought some of you might like to see the reply I got from College Board.  I'm not sure what we classicists should do next.  Right now a book we had to read one year for school (for inservice) comes to mind: _Who Moved My Cheese?_.  This book was about how to accept change, how to adapt, how to survive as opposed to standing around waiting for things to revert back to the way they were, which they will never, ever do.

Maybe we need to rethink our classes and the approach to our profession.  More thoughts on that at another time.  

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[Received Friday, May 9, 2008] 

[See blog entry "So here's my AP letter..."]

Dear Ms. Lindzey:
 
At their request, I am writing in response to the deeply thoughtful and
valuable letter you sent to our Trustees, including President Gaston
Caperton. I hope your students have a chance to see your letter, as it
exemplifies all the excellence I would expect from an expert in your
discipline. Thank you so very much for taking the time to share these
perspectives.
 
I'll respond first by sharing the very heart of the matter, the reason
why a moratorium on this decision is not possible.
 
Just as the College Board would never ask classicists to knowingly and
deliberately teach erroneous or inaccurate Latin, we know the your
organization and others would never ask the College Board to violate our
commitment to producing valid and reliable exams. The AP Program has
earned its reputation for providing a valid measure for placement and
credit by developing and offering curricula based on exams of the
highest psychometric quality and validity.
 
However, as AP Latin Literature has slowly grown, it has approached the
threshold that, once reached, cannot support the type of exam design AP
Latin Literature uses (a test format that actually allows students to
choose which questions they do and do not answer). Because AP Latin
Literature allows students to choose which questions they answer, the
psychometric validity of the exam results will be subject to increased
risk as the program continues to grow, so the current exam design must
be discontinued following the May 2009 exam.
 
There is no such problem with the AP Latin: Vergil exam, which simply
needs a multi-million dollar investment (which we are making) to upgrade
design specifications and standard setting processes to ensure that as
the volume continues to grow, there is no risk to the quality and
reliability of the assessment. So we will continue to offer the AP
Latin: Vergil Exam in the near term, while working at the same time with
educators to determine whether we should, over time, change AP Latin:
Vergil to incorporate a larger number of authors.
 
We hope, indeed, that many schools will continue to offer a Latin
curriculum focused on Cicero, Catullus, Horace, and Ovid. We as an
organization are committed to the study of Latin, among other
disciplines, and as such, are prepared to invest significantly in
ensuring that an AP Latin Exam remains psychometrically viable as the
program diversifies and grows. But AP Latin Literature is not an exam
design that we can support. AP German has continued to grow steadily,
even since the discontinuation of AP German Literature. We hope that
teachers who value the AP Latin Literature curriculum will continue to
offer a course on such texts and authors. And we will seek input from
colleges and universities nationwide this fall to determine how to
improve the AP Latin: Vergil program, possibly expanding it to include
other authors without replicating the "student choice" format of the
current AP Latin Literature exam.
 
So while AP Latin Literature must be immediately discontinued following
the May 2009 Exam, the next question should be: will the College Board
invest in creating a second AP Exam, beyond AP Latin: Vergil, to replace
AP Latin Literature. The answer to this question can best be gained by
asking teachers and students of Greek, Russian, Korean, Tagalog, Hmong,
Thai, Arabic, Hebrew, and Portuguese whether it is fair to invest in
creating two AP Latin Exams without having first created even one AP
Exam in the language they teach and learn. You can imagine their answer.
 
Here is a summary of the key points made by the World Languages Academic
Advisory Committee (WLAAC, comprised of college and university world
languages faculty and secondary school world languages teachers) in
support of the decision to discontinue AP Latin Literature (note that
some of what follows does not apply to the study of Latin):
 
The WLAAC strongly believes that there should be a single capstone
course in each world language in order to better integrate language,
literature, and culture in all of the World Language AP offerings.
Therefore, the WLAAC brings forth the motion that the AP program take
advantage of the current course and exam review of world languages to
accomplish this integration. Furthermore the WLAAC recommends that AP
Latin follow the same process. In addition, the WLAAC sees this as an
opportune time for the expansion of AP offerings to other major world
languages and cultures.
 
We propose this motion for the following reasons:
 
* A single vision for WL provides the best model for the
profession in curriculum, instruction, and assessment and the
professional development necessary to support these areas.
 
* This model would allow for the integration of the study of
language, literature, and culture, which are inherently linked but
artificially separated in the current offerings.
 
* The Review Commissioners for world languages have already
articulated this integration as part of their Evidence Centered Design
model. Therefore, this proposal would not necessitate a delay in the
launching of the integrated capstone model.
 
* This integrated model would best serve the needs of all
students, including the under-represented student population and
underserved school districts.
 
* A single capstone course would allow for better vertical
articulation.
 
* Colleges are more likely to accept a single capstone language
and culture course and exam for credit or advanced placement than has
been the practice with the current literature exams.
 
* A single capstone course would better prepare a student
linguistically for upper division college level courses.
 
* Offering more than one capstone course in only a limited number
of languages (or one language) creates issues of equity and access.
 
* Expanding the current portfolio of offerings (in the integrated
model) would create powerful incentives for more US students (including
first generation college attendees) to study less-commonly-taught
languages and cultures. This expansion would continue to encourage
greater connection and respect for heritage populations and their
important role in the community as well as prepare a new generation of
Americans to engage major world areas and cultures.
 
You make wonderful points about the value of studying Latin, despite the
small numbers of students. We agree with those points. As a non-profit,
we have been willing to support AP Latin at a financial loss for all 53
years of the program's existence, but none of the values you describe in
AP Latin are dependent on having two, separate AP Latin programs, and
during a time in which we need to make massive investments in the
psychometrics and operational processes of AP Latin, we cannot justify
doing so for two separate AP Latin Exams when so many other languages
have not even one. AP German, AP Chinese, and AP Japanese provide
incentives for a sustained, multi-year course of study while only having
one AP Exam associated with them. If there is a need to ratchet up the
rigor of AP Latin to ensure that it anchors at least 4 years of study,
we are open to considering that option as we hold conversations about
how AP Latin: Vergil might change.
 
We will certainly engage teachers in the conversation, in addition to
holding a College Faculty Colloquium, and by way of this email, I am
asking James Monk, who manages AP Latin, to ensure that you are included
in future conversations or reviews of the possible future directions
that we could take AP Latin.
 
Thanks again for such a thoughtful and important letter. We'll look
forward to working with you to ensure that the one AP Latin Exam that we
offer evolves into the best possible capstone to anchor sustained
studies of this essential discipline.
 
All the best,
 
Trevor Packer
Vice President
Advanced Placement Program