Editorial: Leveling the AP field

Parents debating changes in Rowan-Salisbury high schools’ district lines often cite disparities in Advanced Placement course offerings as a sign of unfairness. Just how great are those disparities, if there are any, and is enrollment the only cause?  

Information from Kathy P. McDuffie, director of secondary education and career technical education, shows Salisbury and East Rowan high schools have the most AP courses in the given semester. North and South have about half as many, and Carson and West are in the middle. Here are the number of courses in the semester reported, including online courses: Salisbury, 14; East, 12; West, 9; Carson, 8; North, 6 and South, 6.

Numbers can be deceiving, which is why school officials don’t talk about them more. Course offerings change from semester to semester. And McDuffie says a course like AP chemistry may be offered at one school but have students enrolled from other schools. The system’s policy is to offer a full slate of AP courses to all registering students and see how many sign up. Twelve is enough to make up a class. Fewer means the interested students may have to travel to another school for a class or take it online — not the best scenario, but not the worst, either. Several AP courses listed below are offered here only online, such as microeconomics, macroeconomics and studio art, McDuffie says.

Students who take several AP courses and score well on tests improve their chances of getting into prestigious schools, earning scholarships and entering college with several credit hours already in hand. No wonder parents raise the issue so often. High AP scores are money in the bank.

Here’s the local AP lineup for one semester:

• Carson: English IV, calculus, environmental science, U.S. history, government, European history, psychology, French.

• East: English III, English IV, calculus, biology, chemistry, environmental science, U.S. history, government, European history, psychology, macroeconomics, Spanish language.

• North: English IV, calculus, chemistry, U.S. history, psychology and music theory.

• Salisbury: English III, English IV, calculus, calculus BC, U.S. history, government, European history, psychology, macroeconomics, microeconomics, Spanish language, French, Latin, studio art.

• South: English III, English IV, calculus, U.S. history, government and psychology.

• West: English III, English IV, calculus, environmental science, U.S. history, European history, psychology, macroeconomics, microeconomics.

Enrollment isn’t everything. Salisbury and South Rowan high schools have similar enrollment numbers, around 950, but very different course offerings. North has the same number of AP offerings as South, but many fewer students.

Instead of looking only at the microcosm of each school, the school board should also look at the whole system. Only 3 percent of the total course enrollments in Rowan-Salisbury are in honors or AP courses, according to the N.C. Report Card for schools; statewide, the percentage is 5 percent. The entire county should be expecting more of its students.