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College Board eliminates computer science AP test
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2008 04:48:38 -0700
________________________________________ From: Tim Finin [finin () cs umbc edu] Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 10:32 PM To: David Farber Subject: College Board eliminates computer science AP test The College Board has decided to eliminate their Advanced Placement test in computer science. It's well known that the number of university students choosing computer science as a major has been declined significantly in the past six years. Many organizations, including the the Computing Research Association, have developed strategies to address this by enlarging the pipeline. A part of this is working to increase interest in the field in high schools and middle school. Eliminating the computer science AP test will discourage high schools from offering computer science courses and their students from taking them. Here's a story from the Washington Post. -- AP Language, Computer Courses Cut http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/03/ST2008040303977.html The College Board told U.S. teachers in an e-mail yesterday that four underenrolled Advanced Placement courses will be eliminated after the 2008-09 academic year in the first significant retrenchment of the college preparatory program in its 53-year history. ... The courses being cut -- Italian, Latin literature, French literature and computer science AB -- are among the least popular in the AP portfolio. ... The eliminated classes are "all less commonly taught disciplines in high schools," said Trevor Packer, vice president of the College Board for AP. "And they're under fire sometimes," he said, in school systems more focused on core subjects. ... Trustees of the New York-based College Board decided to eliminate the courses March 27 at a meeting in Reston, Packer said. The decision was communicated at 5 p.m. yesterday via e-mail to 2,519 teachers of the affected subjects and to AP program coordinators. -- Tim Finin, Computer Science & Electrical Engineering, Univ of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Cir, Baltimore MD 21250. finin () umbc edu http://umbc.edu/~finin 410-455-3522 fax:-3969 http://ebiquity.umbc.edu ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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