CICP News & Updates

Check out this thoughtful editorial (appearing in today’s Indianapolis Star) by Chairman of Wheaton Worldwide Moving and CICP Board member Steve Burns – Steve addresses criticisms of the Indiana Department of Education’s goal of having 25% of Hoosier students pass at least one Advanced Placement exam during their high school careers.

When education is inextricably linked with higher incomes and career opportunities and Indiana is struggling to improve the number of our high school grads who pursue and complete higher education, the AP focus is clearly on target – and we need to aim higher, not make excuses. 

TO THE EDITOR:

A recent letter to the editor from Lynette Enz Liberge about high school Advanced Placement exams (‘AP classes don’t always equal upward mobility,’ June 13) has a strange and disturbing message for Hoosier students, educators and policymakers: “Aim lower – maybe you won’t be disappointed.”

Indiana’s Department of Education asserts that a quarter of all the state’s students should pass at least one AP exam during their high school careers.  This assertion is based on a statewide analysis of PSAT exams which show that 33% of Indiana’s 2008 graduates had the potential (based on proven expectancy tables) to pass an AP exam.  

Liberge calls this “unreasonable,” and seems to suggest that only students from upper-income families are equipped to succeed in Advanced Placement classes and get a head start on their college studies.  Affluent communities like Carmel, Fishers and Zionsville may be able to reach such a lofty goal, but others need not apply.  (She fails to mention that North Central High School, with 37% of its students on free or reduced lunch programs, is among the top dozen AP performing schools in the state.)

At a time when we must push every student to do better and hold every teacher and administrator accountable for learning achievement, we need to set higher goals – not settle for excuses. 

For disadvantaged students especially, enrolling in AP classes is a first step towards a better life; indeed, towards upward mobility.  The data isn’t up for debate:  Americans with more education have higher incomes and lower unemployment. 

A college graduate – on average – earns nearly twice as much as someone with just a high school diploma, and almost three times as much as a high school dropout.  Recent studies from IU tell us that jobs requiring a college degree are expected to grow at a double-digit clip over the next five years in Indiana.  Jobs that don’t require education beyond high school will see sluggish growth, below 10%.  Education equals more career opportunities and bigger paychecks.

AP coursework sets the stage for success in college, and therefore success in the job market.  Students who successfully pass one AP exam are four times more likely to complete a four-year degree as those who don’t.

Of course it may be harder for children from more difficult socioeconomic circumstances to excel in advanced placement programs.  But  these students certainly have the potential to excel – common sense and the PSAT analysis I mentioned earlier tell us that.  But somewhere along the line, they aren’t being inspired to live up to their natural abilities.

Students of all backgrounds need to be encouraged to do their best, to graduate high school and go on to pursue higher education.  Their economic futures depend on it.  Advanced Placement classes challenge students and get them on the right path to tackling college coursework. 

Telling students that it’s OK not to pursue AP credits because their parents don’t make enough money or the classes might be too hard is a message that only helps perpetuate poverty.  Reasonable people can argue about the right strategies or resources necessary to get more students through AP classes –but it’s destructive to simply project one’s own pessimism onto a whole generation of Indiana students.  By lowering expectations, we lower their chances for success in school and in life.

Stephen Burns

Burns is Chairman of Indianapolis-based Wheaton Worldwide Moving, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership.