The College Board recently announced that they would eliminate the AP Computer Science AB test. Next year is the last year for the test. It’s interesting, now there are two tests, AP CS A and AP CS AB. Taking both of them reflects two semesters, or one year, of college computer science. College Board, in the email announcement, basically gave two reaons, and one further piece of information. The reasons: decline in registrations for the AB exam and desire to put resources for teachers into one exam. The further piece of information: that over the next 5 years, the remaining exam would be developed in a manner that covers one full year of computer science.

I have concerns.

One is that in an AP message board, we heard from Cay Horstmann. He writes one of the texts that I use for Computer Science classes. And he is on the committee that writes the course description and the exams for both computer science courses. He knew nothing of the decision. And he said he had contacted the College Board for more info about the decision, and had (so far) gotten no response. It seems to me then, that the decsion was made without a proper amount of consultation with professionals who are teaching the classes, and the college people who have a desire to see computer science have a good representation in high schools.

As a high school teacher of computer science, I have concerns about what this does to my program. I have been working to develop an interest in, and participation in programming classes. As a matter of fact, just this year, we made the decision that we would make all computer classes include a programming component. We will be cutting classes that cannot make that requirement. For example, we currently have a Desktop Publishing class that will no longer count as a student’s computer requirement. Same for the video editing class. And digital photography. We believe that the interested students will still get the skills- desktop publishing skills will still be taught through journalism and yearbook. The art department will still have digital photography and video editing offerings. The difference will be that all students gain at least a basic understanding of some computer programming. I think that’s good. And my hope was that as all students began this course of study, we would identify and encourage more who seemed to have the knack or talent for programming.

An intro class could then lead the student to take AP programming. They could take the AP CS A class, and then those who were really interested/committed to the field could take the AP CS AB class. It makes some sense. High school students need more time and support to perform at a level expected of college students. The full course of study described here takes 2 1/2 years. But the last year is only for those with some talent for the field and a real interest in it.

College courses are offered in semester increments. So what happens if the exam covers a year’s worth of college material? What if students demonstrate a mastery of a semester’s worth of material, but not the advanced concepts that would come in the other semester? Will they get a partial credit of some sort?

And can I teach this content in a more compressed way? Only this year, I have modified the Intro class to have a slower pace on vocabulary and content, but to include more programming exercises. I have been pleased with the results. The students have been engaged and interested- more so than when the class was more rigorous.  If I compress this, I fear that I will have more students who are frustrated and just decide this field is not for them.

Computer science is an interesting field in that it is one of the few that students enter in high school with no (or very little) prior experience. Consider the other fields: English, history, math, and science. Before a student would consider taking an AP course in those fields, they would have had experience, going back to elementary school in those disciplines. Even in foreign language, students are required to take two years in high school. After completing two years in a language, they could choose to pursue it further by taking an advanced, or AP, course. In my school, only one semester of computer is required. And, although we are working to be sure all students know how to use computers, starting at the elementary level, computer programming is relatively new to them. How do you take kids from an extremely rudimentary understanding of a subject to college-level content in such a short time. I’m not sure I know. This decision by the College Board makes it more difficult. That’s unfortunate.

All this comes as I have been receiving information from colleges that fewer students are enrolling in computer science as a major. This in spite of the fact that jobs are available in the industry, and that computer science majors are commanding a good starting salary. This in a world where computers are being used more and more. And at a time when we hear that math and science are critical to the development of a knowledge work force.

It’s befuddling. I hope I soon get more information that helps make this decision seem more sensible. Or that the decision will be reconsidered. And although the College Board does not determine what classes can be offered, or what the curriculum will be, they do exert a great deal of influence on what students will do and what colleges will accept. I wonder if that is more power and influence than such an organization should have . . .

I have two workshops this summer- one at Carnegie Mellon, and one on AP institute class at UTD. I’ll also attend a CS teacher’s day at NECC. I’ll look forward to hearing the discussions/ideas of other computer science teachers there.