AP in IL: an update

Last updated on: January 5, 2016 at 10:45 am by Jane the Actuary

AP in IL: an update 2016-01-05T10:45:29-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Back in May, I wrote about the plan in Illinois to require that all public universities give credit for AP scores of three or higher, to eliminate the variations between universities and exams — that is, for math and science exams in particular, various of the more rigorous schools require that students earn a 4 or even a 5 in order to receive credit and placement in a higher level class, but the legislature planned to remove this discretion and require that all universities accept a score of 3.

Here’s the update: today’s Trib reports,

Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, Illinois colleges and universities must provide course credit to students who score at least a 3 on an AP exam, according to a bill signed into law this week by Gov. Bruce Rauner. . . .

Some higher education officials were concerned that the law could affect academic standards by forcing colleges to give credit to students for courses they shouldn’t skip. The officials were also concerned that granting students college credit could cut tuition revenues.

But Charles Tucker, vice provost for undergraduate education and innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the law allows universities and colleges to determine what kind of credit they’ll offer for a score of 3, which will help maintain academic standards. McGuire said that was a compromise after hearing from higher education officials.

Now, the worry about tuition revenues falling is irksome, but it would be more irksome if this appeared to have made an impact on decision-making.

But what has happened, exactly? Here’s the full text of the bill:

Sec. 30. Examination; postsecondary-level course credit.
(a) In this Section, “institution of higher education” means a public university or public community college located in this State.
(b) Beginning with the 2016-2017 academic year, scores of 3, 4, and 5 on the College Board Advanced Placement examinations shall be accepted for credit to satisfy degree requirements by all institutions of higher education. Each institution of higher education shall determine for each test whether credit will be granted for electives, general education requirements, or major requirements and the Advanced Placement scores required to grant credit for those purposes.
(c) By the conclusion of the 2019-2020 academic year, the Board of Higher Education, in cooperation with the Illinois Community College Board, shall analyze the Advanced Placement examination score course granting policy of each institution of higher education and the research used by each institution in determining the level of credit and the number of credits provided for the Advanced Placement scores in accordance with the requirements of this Section and file a report that includes findings and recommendations to the General Assembly and the Governor. Each institution of higher education shall provide the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board with all necessary data, in accordance with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, to conduct the analysis.
(d) Each institution of higher education shall publish its updated Advanced Placement examination score course granting policy in accordance with the requirements of this Section on its Internet website before the beginning of the 2016-2017 academic year.

So: the law doesn’t do much, really, in the end. Schools can retain their current policies with respect to placement, and have fulfilled the letter of the law (so far as I can tell) if they grant one unit of elective credit for each exam. Courses of study vary in the degree to which students have room in their degree requirements for a great many electives — liberal arts degrees have so many electives that it’s easy to do double majors, but, a I recall, engineering majors have very few; e.g., the mechanical engineering curriculum at the University of Illinois provides for a total of two truly free electives (excluding those required for general education). So this may simply have the impact of enabling students to fill their electives with these AP-earned units.

But will a “minimalist” university have legislators angry at them, with funding threats, if they don’t provide a full class’s worth, or even a full set-of-classes’ worth, of credits, for the corresponding AP test? Will the legislators rail that they’ve violated the intent of the law if they don’t grant credit for the specific courses the exam is designed to replace?

So I’m torn: I believe there ought to be a robust system that allows students to get credit in nontraditional ways — through credit-by-exam, through dual-credit high school classes, through work portfolios. If we can’t dislodge the college degree as the credential required by an ever-increasing number of employers for ever-increasing occupations, then minimizing the seat-time, and the full-cost credit hours, is the next-best thing. On the other hand, I’d like to see a variety of options, and am concerned that this sort of state mandate will have unintended consequences.

Uncategorized

high school

Illinois

Previous Post

August 15, 2015

Two quotes on violence

Next Post

August 17, 2015 Still not learning the lesson: Pension Spiking

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Messiah" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sacrifice Teacher Anointed One Savior