A sobering big idea

Phi Delta Kappan

Volumn 87, Issue 5, 2006, Pages 401-402

  Wineburg, Sam ^a  

^a STANFORD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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Indexed keywords

EID: 32344444940     PISSN: 00317217     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/003172170608700514     Document Type: Review

References (6)

1. For data on urban districts, see http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ reading/results2003/districtresults.asp.
2. "AP Report to the Nation," 2005, www.collegeboard.com/prod_ downloads/about/news_info/ap/2005/ap-report-nation.pdf. The percentage cited is the overall figure for the AP exam in U.S. history, but such percentages further mask the achievement gap. For most colleges and universities, a passing score on the AP history exam is increasingly a 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale. For the latest exam in U.S. history, these two grades constituted nearly a third (32%) of all grades awarded. However, among African American youths sitting for the test, only 11% received a 4 or 5.
3. Quoted in Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, "Troubled High School Narrows Courses," Education Week, 16 June 2004, pp. 1, 24.
4. The spread of the highbrow IB program to underperforming urban schools is a uniquely American phenomenon. The Bush Administration has issued $1.2 million in grants to support the adoption of IB in lowincome school districts. The proposed 2006 budget allocates $52 million (a 73% increase over current levels) for spreading AP and IB to urban schools. See George Archibald, "Learning Globally," Washington Times, 17 January 2004;
5. and Ron Hutcheson, "Bush's Testing Plan Riles Demos, Teachers, " San Jose Mercury News, 13 January 2005.
6. For an overview of IB's spread and adaptation in an American context, see Jerusha Osberg, "From International Schools to Inner-City Schools: The First Principles of the International Baccalaureate Program," unpublished manuscript, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, 2005.