Monday, June 08, 2009

Scarsdale Principal to Keynote NYC Event

John Klemme, Principal of Scarsdale High School, will be the luncheon speaker at the ICG’s conference in New York City on Friday, January 15, 2010 at Fieldston School. Scarsdale is entering its third and final year of phasing out College Board Advanced Placement courses and replacing them with home grown Advanced Topics courses.  As John told the New York Times, “We have the luxury of being able to move beyond A.P. If people called it a gold curriculum in the past, I refer to this version as the platinum curriculum.“ Many readers will have seen the press coverage, but I encourage you to consult our Educators area for internal documents (which John has generously provided) that give a fuller picture of Scarsdale’s work on the AP to AT transition.

Two reports to the superintendent of schools provide a superb overview of Scarsdale’s process, including the school’s consultation with university faculty, its efforts to address concerns about variability in teacher-designed curriculum, and provisions for interested students to continue taking AP exams.  You’ll also find the results of a Scarsdale survey in which faculty report that the new AT curriculum enables students to think more independently, engage in deeper discussions, and learn in more authentic ways than was possible with AP.  As one teacher wrote, “Papers and tests tended to cover the big ideas on which we focused rather than on nit-picking details, and we weren’t bound by the specifics of the AP test format.“  Said another, “I now think much more expansively about how to assess.“  Exciting things are happening at Scarsdale High School!  We hope you will join us in welcoming John Klemme at the Fieldston conference.