GILROY
– One-hundred more students seeking a head start on a college
education are enrolled in Gilroy High School’s Advanced Placement
program this year. To deal with the influx, five new class sections
are being offered and more teachers are getting involved.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – One-hundred more students seeking a head start on a college education are enrolled in Gilroy High School’s Advanced Placement program this year. To deal with the influx, five new class sections are being offered and more teachers are getting involved.
“It’s a very positive program with highly dedicated staff and administration as well as students,” said Kanani Pratt, AP coordinator for GHS. “The teachers that are teaching want to be there, and they love the class, and they love the curriculum.”
AP classes are taught at a college freshman level and are taken mostly by juniors and seniors, although some sophomores are enrolled in AP biology and music theory classes, Pratt said.
GHS used open enrollment for AP classes again this year, despite opposition from a parents group that sought to change that policy.
“(The open enrollment policy) opens the door to a student not being as prepared as other kids in those classes, but it doesn’t lead to lower standards,” GHS Principal Bob Bravo said. “With the AP test, you have an external standard to live up to.”
Students have the opportunity to take the subject-specific standardized exam for each course and can enter college with some general education credits if they pass with a score of at least three out of five. The cost of taking the exam – about $70 each – has been a burden for some families.
“We have the expectation that students are all going to take the AP test, because teachers are making their final exam to the same standard,” Bravo said. “But if it’s not paid for, we can’t force them to take it.”
AP grades are worth an additional grade point – called “grade weighting” – meaning a B in an AP class is worth 4.0 points, whereas an A in a grade-level class is worth that much. Grade weighting was reinstated by the Gilroy Unified School District last May thanks to efforts from some parents and GHS staff.
For the six years that Pratt has been involved with the AP program, enrollment was between 300 and 400 students and never exceeded 450 students. This year, 500 are enrolled. The increase in enrollment this year is attributed to the program’s efforts to raise awareness about AP classes, Pratt said.
“It is a great program for those students who want to be challenged,” Pratt said. “Success breed success.”
Teachers of AP classes are highly trained in the curriculum, which is aligned with College Board standards rather than state high school standards. They participate in one of several week-long training courses throughout the summer and two to three training days during the school year.
“The teachers have a passion for the subject, and they want to teach to higher standards,” said Pratt, who also teaches AP government.
AP teachers are all fully credentialed master teachers, meaning they are tenured and have been at GHS for multiple years, Pratt said.
Margaret Ota, who has taught English at GHS for 11 years and started her first AP class this year, agreed to take on the class because she wanted to see students explore her favorite authors and poets with vigor.
“I thought it would be exciting, and I have the background for it,” Ota said. “What I was looking for was really being able to get in depth.”
During the first week of classes, Ota already noticed a difference in the students’ work and interest in the subject matter. The class was quiet when she spoke. During discussion, they did more than just agree or disagree with one opinion, they expressed their own.
“The involvement of the students in the literature, the level of discussion, the maturity of the students is noticeable,” she said. “You can see the critical thinking.”
Critical thinking is one of the skills developed in AP classes, Ota said. Like college classes, the course work also emphasizes analysis and research skills, she said. It’s directed toward the AP test.
Last year, GHS students were outperformed by students in comparable districts in all but a few of the AP subjects it offers. Bravo hopes to see scores on AP tests improve.
“One thing we’ve done is send teachers to more AP trainings,” he said.
In keeping with the increased rigor, the textbooks used in many of the AP classes are the same as the ones used in freshman classes at colleges and universities, Pratt said. Students can expect up to one additional hour of homework a night for each AP class.
Students taking AP classes do so because they seek the challenge of in-depth learning and extra work.
“I want to be more prepared for college and not be surprised by the amount of writing I would have to do,” said Rebecca Perez, a senior enrolled in Ota’s AP English literature course who is taking three AP classes this year. “(The classes) are more challenging, and I don’t get as bored in them as I would in other classes. I’m with students who care about school as much as I do or a little bit more.”
Perez, who took two AP classes last year, also hopes to circumvent some of her general education requirements by passing her AP exams next spring.
“If you take the class, you might as well take the test,” Perez said. About 98 percent of GHS AP students take the exams.
Information on AP classes will be given out to parents at Curriculum Night on Thursday. Facts about the program are also included in some of the high school’s monthly newsletters.
To get sophomores and juniors to consider taking the classes during the following year, Pratt visits their classrooms and answers questions about the program.
Government, macro-economics and English literature are the most popular AP subjects, with up to 80 students enrolled in each subject this year. Government and macro-economics are both semester-long classes.
