By: Min Qiao <[email protected]>

As the bell rang for first period to begin, sophomore Meera Chander takes a seat in AP European History, ready for the quiz that comes with every class. Chander, like many other students here, is taking this class to prepare herself for the National AP European History test in May. However, unlike a lot of students, she said also plans to take two additional AP tests—without taking those AP courses for it. Chander is among a small group of high ability students who plan to self-study for the national AP exam.

But, according to Rhonda Eshleman, assistant principal and director of students’ curriculum here, students this year might have higher incentives than ever to self-study for AP tests.

“The state has just issued a new law that says that students who take National AP exam and score a three, four or five on it can get credit for the class without taking the course,” Eshleman said. “The problem is, there is another law that says that in order for a class to count for graduation credit, the school has to assign a grade to that class and one of our main concerns is what grade we should assign or whether or not we can just grant a credit without a grade.”

According to a recent report from the Department of Education, this new policy is one of the many alternative ways that students can now earn high school credit. Since the law was passed over a year ago, there has been confusion as to how this it can be carried out.

“This law was passed and it got sent over to the Department of Education to come up with guidelines and rules on how schools will implement that,” Counseling department Chairperson, Linda Skafish said. “My understanding is that it’s supposed to go the state board of education at their September meeting, so we’re looking for something to come from the state this fall.”

Senior Karl Sanftleben, who self-studied for the National AP Human Geography exam, said that he is in strong support of this new policy and believes that any policy that rewards student for challenging themselves is beneficial.

“A simple solution would include giving and awarding points for a GPA equivalent to the score.” Sanftleben said. “For example, a score of five should get five points and a score of four should get four points.”

Similarly, Chander agrees the concept of alternative credit is a great policy and feels that it could act as a catalyst to motivate students to excel on a higher level. Her solution to this inconsistency within the laws is to have the student arrange to take the semester final and the grade that he receives on that final could be the grade assigned for that class. However, the student should be able to choose whether or not he wants this grade and credit to count.

Eshleman, on the other hand, said that things just aren’t as simple as it seems. “There is no really easy answer to this problem.” She said. “We may leave it the way it is and not give a grade for the class. If we do, a student would have to take classes that count for graduation but could test out of those that are above and beyond those needed for Core 40. So far, no decision has been made yet.”

With all the uncertainty surrounding this new policy, Skafish said that the administration is looking into this issue critically to make sure it does things right.

“I just hope that they come to an eventual settlement about this issue soon,” Chander said. “It would be displeasing to hear if, for example, they make a settlement that would only take effect next year, after I already finish taking the two exams.”