A Dialect of Confidence: AP in Middle School
Ambler Moss
Experienced head of international schools and Staff Development/Teacher Training for schools in ASEAN region.
This article documents one of the most interesting experiments I was ever involved in at Lemon Grove Middle School during the 2008-2009 school year.?We took a cohort of 7th and 8th grade native speakers of Spanish most of whom had never studied Spanish formally, connected with with an excellent teacher for zero period all school year, then we had an 80% pass rate on the Advanced Placement Exam in Spanish Language. A mere 9 months of formal language study later and they were ready.
This was a great bragging point for the school. There are high schools that don’t get this pass rate.
Later, I will discuss how the benefits of this class were far greater than just passing the AP exam at 13 and getting college credit. Much more! Stay tuned…
I am looking for a middle school to do this and/or other creative, ambitious programs.