I'm So Happy and Here's the Reason Why

I refuse to be unhappy despite the Sox recent skid, and despite a little unpleasantness I'll have to deal with next week (I'll explain later). My week was made recently and I am feeling happy! And we all know it's all about the feelings, right?

Why so happy? I'll explain. I went into school to work on getting a jump start on classroom setup, etc. Our official first day is a teacher day upcoming, when we'll have time to work on things like that. But I wanted to do a little prep work before prep day. So I go into school. And I check my mailbox. I get back to my classroom and take a closer look at the mail. One of the items was the sheet of AP World History (hereafter APWH) test scores my students earned on their May exam. My jaw dropped. I shouted in delight. I clapped. I practically danced. I could have hyperventilated. (It's a good thing I didn't, as I was alone on that floor!) ALL MY STUDENTS PASSED!!!

Whoop dee do, right? So they passed. You might think that any competent teacher should get all his students to pass. So what? If you are thinking these thoughts, you lack context on AP courses, and my particular situation. I'll give a little context to help.

1. Only 51 percent of all test takers in 2006 passed the APWH exam. No typos here: again, 51 percent. I don't know what the percentage nationwide was this year (figures aren't out yet), but the percentages have been trending downward over the last four years, as more and more students have enrolled in APWH and have taken the exam (instead of only the "smartest" taking the exam, thus lower average scores are to be expected). I'm guessing the percentage of those who passed this year will be 49 or 50 percent. So I was pretty happy with a 100 percent pass rate!

2. The APWH exam is considered by some teachers to be harder than at least one of the other AP history exams, that of U.S. History. Don't have any proof of this, but it sounds good to me! Even if it isn't more difficult, it is still a rather comprehensive exam. It literally covers highlights from the entire world over the last 10,000 years or so (emphasis on "or so." Feel free to be skeptical on the year range. But you get the point. It's a lot of stuff over a long period of time.)

3. While I encouraged my entire class to take the exam at least for the experience, I was very afraid at least two of them would not pass. It took some armbending to convince them to try and take the exam. So it was a small victory just to get my entire class to sign up for the exam.

4. We had no AP level textbook the entire year. It was the first time the school offered the course, and the first time I had taught it at that level. So no adequate textbook. I believe this was a serious obstacle the students and myself faced and had to overcome. I had to lecture a lot more than I would have preferred, to cover the material. And I had no training on how to do this. No workshops to help me. I joined a listserve with other WHAP teachers, which helped. Still, I was a greenhorn.

5. At least one student misidentified a section of the world when he was asked to write an essay on something. In case you want a taste of what kind of stuff you have to do on this exam, here was the essay question:
Analyze major changes and continuities in the formation of national identities in ONE of the regions listed below from 1914 to the present. Be sure to include evidence from specific countries in the region selected.
Middle East
Southeast Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa

Anyway, his mistake was to pick Southeast Asia as his region, and then talk about India. Big mistake. India is not in Southeast Asia. It's considered South Asia. Wrong region entirely. Vietnam would have been a good country to discuss if he had been correct in his geography. So I believe his score on that essay, which was one-sixth of the entire grade, was a zero.

6. I asked my students to email me their grades over the summer when they got them, so I would know. I only heard from one student. A bad sign I thought. I realized there could be a little laziness or forgetfulness going on with some, but I suspected it was also an indication of failure for some.

7. Though I could be wrong, I believe there are undercurrents in my school among some teachers, who think that teaching an AP class to sophomores (this class was primarily sophomores) is too early. Like they can't handle it. Like they shouldn't be challenged to take a course of this nature (college level work). And I think those undercurrents would have increased if the scores had been low. So I was dealing with this challenge in the back of my head along with everything else. Of course, I think such thinking is ridiculous. Statistics say so. Seventy-five percent of those who take the APWH exam are sophomores. But anyway, that's some of the ethos out there at my school (again, mostly impressionary).

Ok, enough context. I hope my happiness makes sense now. AP scores are given on a range of 1-5, with 3 and above being a passing grade. 3 is considered "qualified," 4 is "well-qualified," 5 is "extremely well-qualified." Half my class got 3's and the other half got 4's (including the student who wrote about India)! Imagine what might happen with a new textbook (which we're getting this next year)??

Ok, on to the unpleasantness. I also got a note in my mailbox from an administrator questioning why I failed a student, and asking me to see her/him, since that student passed the fourth quarter and the final exam, but failed the third. So next week I'll have to go and explain details. I already know the conversation is likely to run something like the following, so I'm dreading it:
Administrator: Why did you fail this person?
Me: The student failed to turn in numerous assignments, had a terribly low third quarter grade and a grade that wasn't strong enough in the fourth quarter to get him/her anywhere near passing.
Admin: What was the third quarter grade?
Me: (Insert very low number here.)
Admin: Why so low? I don't like it when teachers give zeros. Students then get into such a hole they can't dig themselves out. Don't you think you could give this student a break based on their performance in the fourth quarter and on the exam?
Me: I agree that a high failure grade should usually be given if a student hands in something of poor quality. In fact, it is very difficult for students to get lower than a sixty on any assignment they turn in on time. But the student has to give me something to work with, otherwise it will be a zero. The student earned multiple zeroes because they failed to turn in multiple assignments, including two worth two test grades. It wouldn't be fair to give the student a 50 or 60 for an assignment they never submitted when someone who does poor work and submits an assignment gets the same mark.
Admin: I'm just trying to see how we can bring up the number of passing grades in your class. X number of students earned an F in your class, and that's really too high.
Me: I agree that I would like more students to pass, but again I have to emphasize how difficult it is to fail my class. Students usually have to fail to turn in multiple assignments to fail. This was the case with this student.

If the conversation is any less unpleasant than this, I will be pleasantly surprised. But I'm fearing the worst. I'm also annoyed that I have to deal with this kind of questioning from administration. It is so easy to pass my classes! Why do they have to ask me about it, as if it is my fault? Maybe I have a character flaw in dealing with authority. I trust I'll have the grace to deal with this. I wish I had only read the first piece of mail and not the second! But despite it, I am too happy to let it get me down too much.

Ok, no more. Finis.