AP Latin Literature Cancelled -- Please Add Your Name

[Andrew Reinhard]

Salve,

As many of you know, AP Latin Literature is being cancelled, although AP Vergil will remain in place for the immediate future. Please read the letter from the AP in the news section on the right and the letter from Ronnie Ancona in the Blog, and if you feel strongly about keeping the AP Latin Literature program alive and active in the United States, please add a comment to this post with your name and school affiliation attached. I will collect these in preparation for what is sure to be a counter-offensive by some of the leading lights in US Classics education. Thanks for adding your names to the list.

Andrew Reinhard
Director of eLearning
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers

[Leo, -onis, m.]

I have little to add to what has already been posted except my own name protesting the removal of the AP Latin Literature exam.

Leo Landrey
Brown University
Providence, RI

[Laura Jefferson]

Please add my name to those protesting the cancellation of the Latin AP literature exam. As we come to value ethics, clear thinking, and good writing, we should not be making one of the most consistently successful means of their cultivation less academically valuable.

Laura Jefferson
Girls Latin 74
Brandeis University 77
Weston Jesuit School of Theology 97
NH State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program
NH Archeology (sic) Society, Secretary

[Lane Worrall]

Please add my name to the petition.

Lane Worrall
Gunston Day School
Centreville, MD

[Barbara Smith-Gillespie]

Is it too late to sign the petition? I can't find it. Please add my name to the growing list of disappointed teachers not only at the decision to drop Latin Literature but at the timing and lack of professional input.

Concerned AP Social Studies colleague, Barbara Smith-Gillespie, Eugene, Oregon

[Kim Uyen Dang]

Experiences throughout my schooling such as the AP Lit curriculum are what led my to my love of teaching. Current and future students should not be deprived of the same experiences. As teachers and classicists, we should fight to offer as many educational opportunities possible to our students, and to preserve the wisdom passed down to us from antiquity.

Kim Uyen Dang
Latin Teacher
Weston High School
Weston, MA

[Keith Toda]

I apologize for cross posting or if this is not the appropriate place to post this. The following was in the April 9th edition of the Education Week publication - PLEASE tell me that the information below is wrong or that there is more to the article, because if this is true, then I am extremely angered and disappointed that I had to find this out from an article, instead of from the College Board itself. Perhaps this is why we as a professional community were not consulted:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2008/04/09/index.html

College Board Intends to Drop AP Programs in Four Subjects

Officials overseeing the Advanced Placement program have announced
that they intend to drop AP classes and exams in four subject areas,
in a pullback expected to affect about 12,500 students and 2,500
teachers worldwide.

Following the end of the 2008-09 academic year, there will be no AP
courses or exams in Italian, Latin literature, French literature, and
computer science AB, said officials at the College Board, the New
York City-based nonprofit organization that owns the AP brand.

The College Board has in past years withdrawn one undersubscribed AP
course at a time, but has never taken so many courses off its table
of offerings in the half-century since the program started as a way
for students to take college-level courses and potentially earn
college credit while still in high school.

Trevor Packer, the College Board vice president who oversees the AP
program, said the decision was made at a trustee meeting on March 27,
and that AP teachers in the affected subjects were notified by e-mail
April 3. "Of course, it's sad for them," he said of the teachers.

Resource Allocation

Mr. Packer said the decision was made principally because of
demographic considerations.

Only a tiny fraction of the members of underrepresented minority
groups who take AP exams take the tests in one of those four affected
subject areas, he said.

The College Board has made it a priority to reach such students,
including those who are African-American and Hispanic.

[Magister Lupifilius]

Thanks for posting this ... it is at variance with the e-mail we received from the College Board that states the following:
Dear Colleague:


The College Board views the support of world language and culture programs as one of our highest priorities. As a not-for-profit organization, we are committed to keeping student exam fees reasonable, so we will continue to bear a considerable financial loss annually to provide schools with AP world language offerings.


During the next several years, we will significantly increase our investment in support of world language and culture programs in the following ways:

Providing AP teachers with downloadable embedded assessments for measuring students' knowledge, skills and abilities throughout the AP course, giving teachers much more information about students' strengths and weaknesses before exam day.
Providing AP teachers with downloadable curriculum modules so that they have college-level materials for delivering key concepts.
Providing AP teachers with access to student AP Exam score reports online.
Convening college professors to raise awareness of the quality of AP world language and culture teachers and students and to enhance existing credit/placement policies.


However, as we significantly scale up our support for AP world language and culture teachers, we cannot continue to offer two separate AP Latin courses and exams. Therefore, the course and exam currently entitled AP Latin Literature will be discontinued following the May 2009 exam administration. The AP Latin: Vergil program will be enhanced in the coming years, with any changes communicated to AP Latin teachers far in advance.


Our intensified commitment to AP Latin will ensure that AP Latin: Vergil provides the rigorous, college-level academic experience needed by advanced high school Latin students. It will also ensure that the course is supported by an increased array of curricular resources and professional development opportunities that will benefit AP Latin teachers.


While we are disappointed to be announcing that next year is the final year of the AP Latin Literature program, we are eager to focus our resources on efforts that will provide a much greater degree of support for AP Latin teachers than ever before.


Sincerely,


The AP Program

****************
As you can see, demographics are not a stated reason to us, the teachers of AP Latin Literature.

[Kevin]

As a high school student, I took both the Vergil and Lit exams, and I think that the syllabi for both of them added a greater dimension to my understanding of the language and culture of the Romans - especially the Lit, considering the variety of authors. I can't imagine high school Latin without the Lit exam. I hope it's not too late to sign the petition or too late to help the College Board realize their mistake.

Kevin Jefferson
Classics Major
University of Virginia

[Wendy Teo]

I'm having a hard time reconciling the College Board's decision with its mission - how does it intend to "connect students to college success and opportunity" by limiting these very students' intellectual options?

Please add my name to the petition.

Wendy Teo
Graduate Student, Classics
Brown University
Providence, RI

[John Bennett]

I think if y'all put this petition on a site that you don't have to register to use, you'll get a lot more names.

I delayed signing several days because of the registration requirement.

John Bennett
St. Andrew's Episcopal School
Class of 2002
Austin, TX

[Chris Geggie]

As of right now, there are 589 members of the facebook.com group entitled "Fight to keep the AP Latin Literature Examination." Lets keep spreading the news. The link to the group is here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26873291920

[Laura Abrahamsen]

But if your school has a filter on your Internet access, you probably won't be able to access the link--do it from home!