After months of relative calm on the School Board, the members entered into a spirited debate on Tuesday night regarding what seemed to most observers to be a rather innocuous policy.
The parrying centered on whether students who enroll in Advanced Placement classes should be required to take the Advanced Placement test at the end of the year in order to earn a higher grade in the class.
Advanced Placement classes are college-level courses taught at the high school.
Students who take these classes have the option, near the end of the school year, whether to take the Advanced Placement test. If the student passes this test, he or she may (but doesn’t always) earn college credit.
Awarding of credit is determined by each college, going by its own rules and regulations regarding a student’s scores.
Far from Free
Students who choose to take the Advanced Placement test must pay a fee of $86. Apparently, some financial aid is available for students demonstrating a need.
Until this year, Culver City High School did not have a policy requiring students in Advanced Placement classes to take the Advanced Placement test.
Any student who earns a C or better in an Advanced Placement class would have his or her grade raised by one point. A C (2.0) would become a B, a B (3.0) would become an A, and students earning an A, which is 4 on a scale of 1 to 4, would be given a numeric score of 5.
This year, Culver High initiated a policy requiring Advanced Placement students to take the A.P. test in order to have their respective grades raised by a point. If a student successfully passes the test, that student’s grade in the class is raised by one point.
The Unusual Rules
If the student unsuccessfully passes the test, that student’s grade in the class is raised by one point. If a student chooses, for any reason, not to take the test, that student does not receive the grade augmentation.
A number of students addressed the School Board, complaining about this new policy. Fortunately, there were no written comment cards.
The students provided a myriad of reasons why they may choose not to take the test. Among them were the cost of the test, the timing of the test and the difficulties associated with taking numerous A.P. tests at or around the same time.
The Board members couldn’t have been further apart on their feelings toward this new policy.
Siding with the administration, Board President Jessica Beagles-Roos apparently didn’t have a problem with the policy.
Ms. Beagles-Roos commented that her son did not earn valedictorian due to some other policy, and she cautioned the students to understand that not everything is always fair.
Dr. Dana Russell seemed of the opinion that the school should look at decreasing the numbers of A.P. classes.
Steve Gourley told the students to pay the fee and “get over it.”
Saundra Davis questioned the constitutionality of the policy.
Scott Zeidman, perhaps the most passionate regarding the policy, wanted to know why the school was rewarding failure.
Reached after the meeting, Mr. Zeidman explained:
“We need to revamp the policy. As written, we are rewarding students for paying $86 to take a test. It doesn’t matter whether or not they pass the test, it only matters that they take the test.”
“That’s just not right. We are implementing a ‘pay for your grade,’ policy that isn’t fair. In non-A.P. classes, we don’t reward failure. If a student earns a C, no matter how hard that student tried, the student gets a C. However, in an A.P. class, if the student earns a C and then takes the A.P. test and fails miserably, that student gets a B for the course. Does that make sense to you?”
“If we are going to require that the students take the A.P. test to get the grade augmentation, then we ought to only award the grade augmentation for those who successfully pass the test. Reward excellence, not failure.”
New Principal
Dr. Tom Tracy, who spent 12 years in the Garden Grove public school system was selected as the new principal of El Rincon School.
A former U.S. Marine, Dr. Tracy most recently has been a seventh- and eighth-grade history teacher at Jordan Intermediate School.
In congratulating the new principal, School District Supt. Myrna Rivera Cote saluted Dr. Tracy’s “extensive background in technology, which will be a great asset to the students, teachers and staff at El Rincon.”
