Hey, I'll admit that I took AP English when I was in high school -- though I opted out of the Calculus and Physics classes tht my school offered because I simply lacked the interest in the subjects to apply myself to them at age 17. At a Catholic school in the Chicago suburbs, we had around 55 students in the AP English program -- about 20% of the class of 1981. And we had a fair amount of success in the program, with about 10 students scoring a 4 or 5 on the test, and around 25 scoring at least a 3. In short, about 2/3 of us were in a position where we might be eligible for college credit.

Fast forward to the present. The class of 2006 saw 126 students take the AP English test -- roughly 40% of the class. Of those students, 19 scored a 4 or 5, and 43 scored a 3. That means only about 50% potentially received college credit.

Now does this mean that the program has declined in quality, and that today's teachers do not teach the material as well as my teacher did? Hardly -- it is indicative of the reality that explanding AP programs result in lower average scores because less able students are placed in the classes. That does not mean that these students are ill-served by being in the program -- indeed, the experience of being in the AP program may raise the level of their learning in a dramatic fashion. But the expansion will hurt the overall "snapshot" that most folks focus on -- the overal test scores.

Which leads me to an article in today's Washington Post.

Prince George's County schools chief John E. Deasy this week is rolling out a $33 million proposal to improve the school system's uneven academic performance, an initiative that includes a partnership with the College Board to expand Advanced Placement course offerings countywide.

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Deasy proposed that by the 2007-08 school year each of the county's 22 major high schools should offer at least eight AP courses, which are meant to introduce students to college-level study. Currently, AP offerings in the county vary widely. Many high schools have only a few.

The College Board, which oversees the AP program, will help the school system train a new corps of 200 AP teachers over the next year. In addition, the school system plans to expand subsidies for AP test fees to help ensure that needy students take the tests.

"It's a monumental culture shift," Deasy said. "AP will be on the tongue of every kid around here before too long."

Michael Marchionda, a College Board official working on the project, called it "a multiyear effort" to widen student access to AP. "It's very comprehensive," he said.

The county school board will consider the plan Thursday and is expected to support it.

"People asked for rigor," said Chairman Beatrice P. Tignor (Upper Marlboro). "We've got rigor."

And i hope the district does have a rigorous program, one which holds to the very strict standards of teh College Board. But I hope tha the district recognizes that test scores -- on average -- will drop if there is an increase in the size and scope of the program.

I also hope that parents realize what they are getting themselves and their children into when thy sign up for the AP program. Such classes are -- and are supposed to be -- at or near the college level. In my own district, we struggled for years with parents who insisted upon putting their child into AP classes -- and then insisted upon taking them out when the student didn't continue to receive the same A he or she had gotten in regular level classes. But most importantly, I hope that teh Prince George District sticks to its guns -- because we have found that the presence of AP classes raises the level of instruction in all classes in the school as regular level teachers collaborate with and adopt strategies used by the AP teachers.