For the Bellevue School District’s high schools, last year’s biggest news items were the national rankings by Newsweek and US News that put every BSD high school in the top 100 nationwide, and, by different measure, both Interlake and International in the top 10.
We’re in the promised land, the 99th percentile, where we share space with charter and magnet schools that siphon off the best and brightest. From the standpoints’ of educators, greatness is an amalgam of factors that lead to student success.
From the national number crunchers, though, what went on in the past two weeks at BSD high schools far and away defines their success or failure, the up or down of their rankings for the upcoming year.
For BSD students, the last two weeks were the climax of the academic year — AP and IB testing.
Advanced Placement (AP) tests are designed to “test students’ ability to perform at a college level,” according to College Board, the organization that created and administers the AP program. They’ve been around since 1951 and have only grown since — many students’ parents, even, can commiserate with them about testing.
International Baccalaureate (IB) isn’t as big in the US, but has a significant following at Interlake. In a fashion, IB is more a liberal arts style high school education than a pure college preparatory program.
Why, then, do students take the tests?
“The two biggest things are college credit and academic rigor,” said Interlake AP coordinator and counselor Kristen Patterson. “We had over 700 students taking 15-20 different exams this year…it was a logistical nightmare.”
With so many students testing, a culture develops around it, both in the classroom and in the student body as a whole.
“Its the status quo,” said one Interlake senior when asked about testing.
Another senior, Toby Im, said that he initially took tests because it was the norm, but “later I realized that it was a great opportunity to receive credit and challenge myself.” After taking the full set of six IB tests and several other APs, Toby has enough credits to finish college in two to three years.
By and large, AP classes have superseded Honors classes as the place for students looking for more academically rigorous, as more and more classes have been offered to meet a rising demand among students. Even when students may not see the tangible outcome of the tests, many take them in good faith.
“I figure I might as well,” said one student. “I really don’t have a choice,” said another — students in AP classes are all required to take some sort of standardized test, so students who don’t take the real AP test have to take mock exams.
The tests, though, can also dictate what teachers teach in the classroom — “teaching to the test” can be a double-edged sword.
“It gives a clear set of objectives to work towards,” said Mr. O’Byrne, who teaches IB Physics at Interlake.
However, another teacher, who asked not to be named, thought differently.
“How much useless information do we ‘teach to the test?’ How many students really need to know the information that well…more material could be covered if we eliminated testing,” he said.
For this year, though, the testing is done, and with it, the students sounding off on the difficulty of “FRQ’s” (Free Response Questions) and “MC’s” (Multiple Choice), complaining about the tests’ arbitrariness, and sneaking review books into completely unrelated classes to cram equations, facts, and methods. Now, the school year’s denouement.
“I’m done!” screamed one student as he walked out of the testing room, a single voice in a surging crowd.
Derek Tsang is an intern at the Bellevue Reporter. He attends Interlake High School.
