Balancing Our Advanced Studies Offerings

By Dr. DARIN FAHRNEY, High School Principal, and Dr. DENNIS STEIGERWALD, Center of Innovation Coordinator

Learn more about the development of the advanced studies offerings in Singapore American School including: the Advanced Placement (AP) cap, what Advanced Topic (AT) program is, the evolution of advanced studies, and other schools that are on a similar journey as SAS.

The AP cap at SAS

Starting with the class of 2021 (this year’s sophomores), students may take seven year-long equivalent AP courses. This cap has been put in place to encourage students to:

• fill the gaps in and look beyond the AP program for ways to distinguish themselves academically,

• explore topics relevant to their interests and future pursuits, and

• take courses that emphasize skills over content, provide opportunities to differentiate themselves, and end the competitive AP race.

What is Advanced Studies?

Advanced Topic (AT) courses and Advanced Placement (AP) courses together form our advanced studies offerings. More than 40 college-level courses give SAS students varied opportunities to learn different skills and topics, address different criteria for excellence, explore their own interests, and distinguish themselves from other applicants in the college admissions process.

What is AP?

The Advanced Placement (AP) program began in 1952 and now includes a range of courses that culminate in externally administered examinations. Students may be able to use their AP exam results to gain college credits, allowing them to skip introductory courses or take fewer courses in college.

What is AT?

Our Advanced Topic (AT) program has been developed by SAS faculty working with distinguished professors to develop university-level courses in areas of study not covered in other courses. AT courses push students to develop transferable skills and complete challenging, self-directed projects that prepare them for college and career opportunities.

Evolution of our advanced studies offerings: A history

SAS embraced the Advanced Placement system when, in 1968, it offered AP English for the first time. Over the years, SAS expanded its AP offering, and in recent decades the vast majority of our high school students have taken at least one AP course. The benefits of the AP program at SAS are numerous:

• students can experience rigorous, college-level courses in small classes within a supportive high school environment

• universities worldwide recognize what “AP” means on a high school transcript

• students’ academic achievements may be validated through success on the external AP examinations

• students who score a three or higher on the exam may be able to transfer their AP credits, saving them time and money at college

Over the last decade, however, SAS, like other top US schools, began to grapple with some potentially negative aspects of the AP program, including:

• lack of real-world relevance of some AP course material

• covering too much material too quickly at the expense of in-depth research, critical thinking, and transferable skills in some courses

• inflexibility in content and teaching style due to an external exam setting the agenda

• an “arms-race” mentality among students loading their schedules with APs and foregoing other interesting academic options

• a focus on doing well on a test rather than deeply exploring a subject and developing a passion for learning

• colleges looking for academic experiences beyond numerous AP courses in applicants’ transcripts

• AP courses no longer setting applicants apart on college applications, as around 40 percent of American high school students now take at least one AP course, up from 4 percent in the 1990s

Today, top schools in the US are rethinking their reliance on the AP program, with some offering limited APs and others droping APs altogether, while most have developed their own high-level courses. At SAS, keeping a variety of high-quality AP courses while developing our own AT courses is giving our students the best of both worlds. We are proud that our curriculum now:

• offers varied academic opportunities that match students’ interests, skills, and objectives

• allows students to take up to seven year-long equivalent AP courses and 14 AP exams including five that may be taken after completing a relevant AT course

• limits the pressure students may feel to take an unreasonable number of AP courses

• offers AT courses that capitalize on our location, interests, and expertise

• gives college applicants more ways to stand out from the crowd through unique AT experiences

• prepares students for the types of learning experiences and professional opportunities they will encounter after SAS

When I was preparing for my transition to college academics, I spoke to another SAS alumna also attending Harvard. She told me that SAS had prepared her perfectly for college—and honestly, she was right! The ability to read large portions of text (both primary and secondary sources), write critical arguments, and keep bigger picture themes in mind while learning were all things that I picked up in several AP courses that I took, and have been extremely useful so far in college, where much of our work is thematic and reading/writing-based. In my two AT courses (AT Physics and AT Entrepreneurship), I focused long-term on a single project, rather than working towards multiple smaller tests, which I think is more like college academics. When you only have one paper and one exam every month, but each of those covers an immense amount of content and requires a lot of preparation, being able to plan out your time and stay focused is definitely beneficial!"

— Ruth Jaensubhakij, Class of 2018, currently in her first year at Harvard University

Other schools are on a similar journey

Newsflash

In June 2018, eight private schools in the Washington, DC area issued a joint statement explaining their decision to drop all AP courses from their course offerings by 2022. “One topic on which we all agree,” the heads of schools say in the statement, “is the diminished utility of AP courses and the desirability of developing our own advanced courses that more effectively address our students’ needs and interests.”

—Georgetown Day School, Holton-Arms School, Landon School, Maret School, National Cathedral School, Potomac School, St. Albans School, and Sidwell Friends School

Interesting fact

Today, the three schools that helped found the Advanced Placement program— Lawrenceville School, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Phillips Academy Andover— have all moved away from it: Lawrenceville and Exeter do not offer any AP courses and Andover offers AP courses in math and science and its own advanced courses in other areas of study.

Syracuse University partnership

SAS has partnered with Syracuse University to offer students in some AT courses concurrent enrollment opportunities. The majority of students in AT Computational Physics, for instance, are concurrently enrolled in Syracuse University, earning university credits that may be transferred to other universities.

We’re in good company!

List of other schools that have limited or dropped AP courses and/or developed their own college level courses:

• Dalton School (NY)

• Ethel Walker School (CT)

• Fieldston School (NY)

• Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School (MA)

• Georgetown Day School (DC)

• Hanover High School (NH)

• Haverford School (PA)

• Holton-Arms School (DC)

• Kiski School (PA)

• Landon School (DC)

• Lawrenceville School (NJ)

• Lincoln School (RI)

• Maret School (DC)

• Miami Valley School (OH)

• Miss Porter’s School (CT)

• Montclair Kimberley Academy (NJ)

• National Cathedral School (DC)

• Nueva School (CA)

• Phillips Academy Andover (MA)

• Phillips Exeter Academy (NH)

• Potomac School (DC)

• Putney School (VT)

• Riverdale Country School (NY)

• San Francisco University School (CA)

• Sandia Preparatory School (NM)

• Scarsdale High School (NY)

• Sidwell Friends School (DC)

• St. Albans School (DC)

• St. Andrews-Sewanee (TN)

• St. George’s School (RI)

• St. Mark’s School (MA)

• The Park School of Baltimore (MD)

• University Liggett School (MI)

• University of Chicago Laboratory School (IL)

• University Prep (WA)

• Urban School (CA)

• Westtown School (PA)

The Advanced Placement program has its place and most assuredly its value, but that value is but a portion—and for many independent schools, a small portion indeed—of the academic and programmatic riches that an enthusiastic and talented faculty in a well-resourced, creative school can mine from its mission, its values, and the inspiring interests and ambitions of its students."

—Peter Gow, Independent Curriculum Group, “The Advanced Placement Program: An Historical Perspective” (2015, revised 2018)