College Board AP Exams and IB Exams

Last week, many students were not successful in submitting their at-home, online AP Exams.

Consequently, College Board is addressing the issue with an alternative submission method - BUT ONLY FOR THOSE EXAMS THE WEEK OF THE 18th. See the Washington Post article

For IB Exams, all have been cancelled, and students will receive credit based on the following:

The IB has put into place the following actions:

• The DP and CP examinations scheduled between 30 April and 22 May will no longer be held.

  

• The student will be awarded either the Diploma, Career-related Programme certificate or a course certificate which reflects their standard of work. The achievement will be based around the students’ coursework and the established assessment expertise, rigor and quality control already built into the programmes.

For more on IB - see Covid 19 updates as of May 15th

Lots of news coming out of California today - college entrance exams and Fall 2020 Classes

Leading the News

University Of California President Recommends Multiyear Suspension Of SAT, ACT Requirements

The Los Angeles (CA) Times (5/11, Watanabe) reports University of California President Janet Napolitano on Monday recommended a “complex and unusual five-year plan” that would make the SAT and ACT tests “optional for two years and eliminate testing requirements for California students in Years 3 and 4.” Starting in Year 5, “UC would move toward a standardized assessment developed specifically for the 10-campus system.” According to the Times, “Napolitano’s decision could tip the scales against the tests among Board of Regents members, who are scheduled to vote on the controversial issue next week.”

        The AP (5/11, News) reports if UC is unable to develop a new test for fall 2025 applicants, “Napolitano recommends eliminating its standardized testing requirement for admissions altogether.” If the test is available, “it would be made available to students from out-of-state schools. International students could submit either the new test or scores from the SAT and ACT.”

        The Washington Post (5/11, Anderson) reports many public and private colleges in recent weeks “have joined a movement to halt or end testing requirements. Some were spurred by the education crisis created by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Others said test scores were not as useful as grades and transcripts in rating applicants.”

        EdSource (5/11) reports current high school juniors applying to UC schools for fall 2021 entrance “already are excused from taking those exams” due to that requirement “was suspended last month after high school classes switched statewide to online due to the coronavirus emergency and testing dates were canceled.”

        Also providing coverage are the San Francisco (CA) Chronicle (5/11, Bauman) and Business Insider (5/11, Davis).

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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITIES - FALL 2020 Instruction

By Nina Agrawal Staff Writer  (LA Times)

May 12, 2020

12:01 PM

The 23-campus California State University system plans to all but cancel in-person classes in the fall and instead will offer instruction primarily online, Chancellor Timothy White announced Tuesday.

The vast majority of classes across the Cal State system will be taught online, White said, with some limited exceptions that allow for in-person activity. The decision comes as schools throughout the country grapple with how long to keep campuses closed amid the coronavirus crisis.

“Our university when open without restrictions and fully in person… is a place where over 500,000 people come together in close and vibrant proximity,” White said at a meeting of Cal State’s Board of Trustees. “That approach sadly just isn’t in the cards now.”

White’s announcement came the same day that infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House coronavirus task force, told a Senate panel it would be “a bridge too far” to think treatments or vaccines could be available in time to facilitate students’ reentry into schools this fall.

It also follows an earlier move by Cal State Fullerton, which in late April became one of the first universities in the nation to announce it was planning for remote instruction this fall.

TEXAS Releases its 'Corrective Action Response' for Special Education Programs

Over the last year and a half, Texas Education Agency has acknowledged gaps in services for students with learning disabilities and has recently submitted a plan to correct and improve public school practices in its Special Education Programs. Families of children with learning disabilities should understand how their child might have been impacted and how future plans will affect their child's learning environment.

The TEA released the 42-page draft strategic plan after a 15-month federal investigation concluded Texas had not been providing kids with disabilities the tools and services they needed to learn, likely failing to educate thousands of students and violating federal law. Federal officials found the state was effectively incentivizing school districts to keep their special education numbers low and that many teachers fundamentally misunderstood the legal requirements around educating kids with disabilities. (Update, April 26: The TEA released its finalized plan on April 24, taken Texas Tribune.)

The final version of the plan comes after months of draft proposals and feedback sessions with parents, educators, education advocates and students. The state is aiming to repair a decade-old practice that drastically reduced the number of students receiving special education services. TEA officials have repeatedly said the 8.5 percent benchmark was not a cap but an “indicator of performance.” But in practice, districts used the number as a cap, the Department of Education found, and denied or delayed services for children across the state ( taken from alejandra.matos@chron.com).

 

ACT to Launch Online Learning Program for ACT College Entrance Exam

ACT to Launch ACT Academy, a Free, Online Learning Program Designed to Help Improve ACT Scores, College Readiness

Find the text of the full Jan 23, 2018 press release below or the link can be found here. 

IOWA CITY, Iowa—ACT today announced plans to launch ACT® Academy™, a free online learning tool and test practice program designed to help students master the skills they need to improve their ACT scores and succeed in college and career. The program will be launched in the spring. 

ACT Academy will help students improve their college and career readiness by providing them with video lessons, interactive practice questions, full-length practice tests, educational games and other materials targeted to their academic needs. Each student will receive their own personalized study plan based on their scores from the ACT® test, PreACT®, official ACT practice tests, or diagnostics within ACT Academy.

 
“ACT Academy will help students improve their readiness for the ACT test and college and career by giving them the resources they need to increase their understanding of core academic skills,” said Suzana Delanghe, ACT chief commercial officer. “And the fact that ACT Academy will be free to all students is yet another way ACT is working to close gaps in equity, opportunity and achievement for underserved learners.”

ACT Academy will provide students with engaging content and materials developed by ACT, the Khan Academy, NASA, PBS and other learning organizations in one convenient place. All of the content will be sorted by efficacy, so students receive the resources that have been proven to be most effective for each skill. It will include the high-quality materials of ACT’s OpenEd, the leading online resource library for K-12 teachers. 

ACT Academy will be compatible with all devices and will allow students to work on building their skills anytime, anywhere they have internet access. Parents, teachers, and counselors can also use ACT Academy to help students study and learn. 

One unique advantage ACT Academy will provide students is the ability to drill down and pinpoint building-block skills they have missed. Every user will have access to thousands of ACT resources, as well as ACT’s proven tips and strategies. 

For more information about ACT Academy, visit: www.act.org/academy. 

Khan Academy to offer more AP Support

Khan Academy has announced its plans to offer more AP support to teachers, as well as students.

See https://www.collegeboard.org/membership/all-access/academic/ap-announces-expanded-student-teacher-supports-and-khan-practice-2019

The new supports will provide students with meaningful feedback that will increase their understanding of course content throughout the year. Among them is the AP Question Bank, the most commonly requested resource of the AP teacher community. The Question Bank is a library of real AP Exam questions—sortable by topic and skills—that teachers can use to create practice tests and assignments for students to help identify and address potential learning gaps.

International Students - Good Guidance through the Admissions Process

• If we start with the premise that the college counselor is already quite adept in advising the international student (a Certificated Educational Planner, UCLA College Counselor Certificate with International Student coursework, professional member of OACAC, HECA, IECA and NACAC), then the time constraints are perhaps the most pressing challenges for this advisor. There are numerous sequential parts encompassing both the immigration and financial aid processes. Each piece seems dependent on the previous step and the approaching deadline(s). Every facet of the process seems very much interrelated. A counselor’s ability to create a student plan four years out (when you consider the testing and language piece too), and schedule the processes based on the individual preferences is crucial.

  For the counselor with a large case load, finding the time to adequately understand the needs of each student, identify and develop a strategy for that one individual, then communicate and monitor the processes to ensure the optimal outcome, will undoubtedly involve more of the counselor. Starting early is essential. Gaining a clear sense of family dynamics (communication and logistic issues may be formidable), providing colleges with a sneak preview of the applicant by mid-junior year, then advocating for the student will require more of a time investment.

  Identifying institutional fit early enough to have the COF in place for an Early Decision application, yet making sure that bank statements and other supplemental documents are current with timely submissions may pose challenges too. Having an independent consultant / private college counselor help oversee deadlines brings a tremendous asset to the international student. 

  For those students already attending US high schools, the counselor’s piece in the matriculation process is more involved with submitting the I-20 soon after graduation. Advising students on waitlists may involve summer availability.

• As your private college counselor and independent educational consultant, I (Patricia Nehme, CEP) will play a more pivotal role in advising about immigration issues, in researching college options and financial aid resources, in advocating for the student, in facilitating the various processes and in continuing to be a resource after high school graduation.