After the board’s public comment period, where the public weighed in on the book, Board Member Josie Barnhart introduced a motion for Advanced Placement (AP) courses to operate based on district-level direction rather than at individual school levels — and to require that all AP students take the AP exam. This was seconded by Board Vice-Chair Pat Bradford.
But board members Stephanie Walker, Stephanie Kraybill, and Hugh McManus said they were confused by the motion, which prompted a discussion among the members and district staff.
The discussion never led to a formal vote — but it did highlight issues that the board will likely look at again in the future.
AP test participation and scores
Dr. Patrice Faison, chief academic officer for the district, said that 91% of AP students in New Hanover County Schools (NHCS) take the exam, and 46% are scoring on the lower end of the 5-point scale, scoring 1s and 2s. 47% are making above a 3, which North Carolina university system schools take as credit for the course (note: you can find NHCS students’ 2023 AP scores at the end of this report).
Barnhart cited the average 46% failing statistic as a possible reason for standardizing AP curricula across the district.
That 46% doesn't cover the more granular breakdown of scores, however.
For example, New Hanover County students are one percentage point behind the national distribution in terms of students making a 3 or more on the AP Language and Composition exam (55% vs. 56% — you can find more distributions of the 2023 AP exams here).
Pass rates (scores of 3 or above) differ significantly from exam to exam. For New Hanover County students, the pass rate for Calculus AB was 27% versus 58% nationally. For the psychology exam, the pass rate for the district was 31%, compared to 60% nationally.
Kraybill questioned Barnhart about her logic for mandating all students to take the exam.
“I'm trying to figure out how forcing kids to take the exam is going to support our staff in being better AP teachers, and how it's going to support our students in being better students," she said.
She also asked why the district would mandate students to take classes that aren't required by the College Board (the non-profit that oversees AP courses and develops standardized tests like the SAT).
Board Member Melissa Mason agreed with the reasoning that forcing students to take an exam might not be the best way to improve achievement.
McManus said he didn’t understand why the motion was introduced without gathering feedback from the AP teachers themselves.
“Have we asked the teachers for their input, the AP staff themselves about what you are recommending? [...] My experience with AP teachers has been outstanding. They are trained well; they know exactly what they're doing. And they challenge kids. But we haven't heard from them,” McManus said.
Walker added, “I just want to reiterate as a parent with experience of having kids take AP, [my] two kids were completely different; I would never force a kid to take an exam he was not ready to take. And I think if that's what we're voting on, I think that's the completely wrong thing to do.”
Barnhart responded, “So part of the expectation, and in my opinion, should be that they are taking the exam, because the point is to expose rigorous content but also to receive college credit. And so if you do not take the exam, then you are exempt from getting that credit,” Barnhart said.
Bradford also said she supported the idea of having mandatory exams. She gave a personal example for her reasoning.
“And when there's an exam, I'm going to learn more, because there's an accountability piece to it. At the end, if there's no exam, I'm gonna learn a little less,” she said.
Walker noted that AP courses are weighed more heavily in a student's GPA, which would also hold a student accountable, even if they didn't take the test.
Barnhart’s motion also directed Superintendent Dr. Charles Foust and his staff to create another position at Central Office to oversee how AP courses are taught throughout the district. In part, Barnhart’s reasoning was that AP teachers could have more support — and that the curriculum would be standardized from school to school.
AP teachers do have specific standards they follow from the College Board and from the North Carolina Standard Course of Study — but they do have discretion in the way those get taught. That discretion is valued by many teachers.
Teacher autonomy
On both recent state-level, the 2022 North Carolina Working Conditions survey, and local-level teacher surveys, educators are saying that they are losing some of their classroom autonomy — and that some in the public and upper administration don’t value and honor their professional expertise.
At NHCS, from 2018 to 2022 there was a decrease of 9 percentage points for teachers agreeing with the statements, “Teachers are trusted to make sound professional decisions about instruction,” and “Teachers are relied upon to make decisions about education issues.”
And during this same time frame, there was an even larger decrease of 18 percentage points for the statement, “Teachers have autonomy to make decisions about instructional delivery (i.e. pacing, materials, and pedagogy)."
From the district’s own climate survey, conducted in late 2021, about half of certified staff (which are mainly teachers) said they disagreed with the statement, “I feel valued working in this district.”
A quarter of staff surveyed also said they disagreed with the statements: “The staff is treated and respected as educational professionals,” and “I have autonomy over my job.”
Superintendent weighs in on dual-enrollment courses
While the board was discussing AP courses in the district, Foust interjected and asked if the board would include dual enrollment programs along with their upcoming discussion on AP.
Dual enrollment programs are when NHCS high school students are also taking either Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) or University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) courses.
Foust said the problem comes in when students continually fail or barely pass these college-level courses. And these failing grades at CFCC and UNCW are recorded on their college transcripts, which can then “knock them out of the running for certain scholarships — and sometimes financial aid.”
He added that he wanted the district to stop setting up students for failure, “So kids go and they flunk class, and they flunk it again, and we [the district] put them back in. And they flunk. And I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ They make a D, we put them back in, they make another D, we put them back in."
He said the district and the higher-level learning institutions need to do a better job of choosing students for these courses.
“When we send kids off in these courses, [we need to ensure] that we aren't negatively affecting them,” Foust said.
Foust said he’s proposing a “hard look” at these courses — and said that there is no Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on file with Cape Fear Community College.
Ultimately, the school board decided that at their upcoming October meeting, Foust and his staff will present how well the district’s students are doing in AP courses and dual enrollment courses at CFCC and UNCW. The board also aims to sign MOUs with both of these institutions.
AP IB Scores by Ben Schachtman on Scribd
