Thoughts on AP versus Running Start
This space has been fallow for so long, I wanted to start planting a crop here again, regardless of its format. I want to get back to providing art and story again, but I also see this place as an opportunity to work out some thoughts on things that are currently battering around in my brain. First up: a friend recently asked me why any ambitious high school student wouldn’t rather take college classes through a program like Running Start, as opposed to staying in high school and taking AP classes.
Some context: Running Start is a program that allows Juniors and Seniors in high school to take community college courses, potentially fulfilling both their high school graduation requirements, as well as working towards an Associates Degree through said community college. It’s a cost-and-time-efficient way to work towards an eventual bachelor’s degree. Additionally, many bright students are very happy leaving high school and coming to an environment where, on average, they are surrounded by other reasonably motivated people who want to be there.
AP, on the other hand, stands for Advanced Placement, and is a program offered and administered by the College Board, the private-education entity responsible for approving the curriculum of AP classes (still created by individual AP teachers, but submitted to the College Board for approval), for administering the end-of-term AP tests, and for the SAT - one of two major tests students must take as part of applying for entrance into four-year colleges (the other being the ACT). AP classes are considered commensurate with college-level courses (though they are a full academic year in length, instead of a semester, like most college courses), and can provide students with college credit, so long as they receive a score of at least three-out-of-five on the end-of-term AP test for the course (roughly half of the students in AP classes manage this).
So first: the cost issue. Obviously, it costs money to attend college. However, community college is cheaper than any four-year institution you’ll find, and there are additional cost-saving measures in place for Running Start students, making it cheaper still; Running Start is a good financial deal for students.
While AP classes themselves are free, it costs money to take an AP test for college credit - about ninety-dollars per test, at least in my neck of the woods. That’s certainly less than you’ll spend for a college class through Running Start (though, again, it’s a full year in an AP class to earn the same credits you would earn in a semester at college), and it’s vastly cheaper if you’re a student that qualifies for financial-aid: in the high school at which I teach, a student who qualifies may take as many AP tests as they wish for five dollars total (not five dollars per test, five dollars for all tests). In our school, where 40-50% of our students qualify for the free-and-reduced-lunch program, that’s a lot of cheap (potential) college credit.
In general, I think it’s clear that Running Start offers more financial benefits for students - when it comes to a bang-for-your-buck analysis - with the caveat that smart kids coming from poor backgrounds may be able to get a ton of mileage out of the AP program. For those that dive into the Running Start program, they may find themselves with their high school diploma and an Associates degree in just two years.
Both Running Start and AP programs are often referred to as “dual-credit” programs - classes that provide both high school and college credit. And while many students are anxious to get a jump on earning college credit - and for preparing for the world beyond college - actual colleges are often less excited about these programs, as they deprive those same institutions of money; you can’t earn four years’ funds off of a student that only needs to attend your institution for two or three years. While most colleges will accept credit earned in either program, some competitive universities will not. In general, AP credits are accepted throughout the country (though some schools demand a score of a four on the AP test), whereas Running Start students might find that some out-of-state universities are less likely to accept credits earned through that program (but kids should still be fine with most public universities).
But there are other measures of value than simply financial ones. As I noted before, many students in Running Start love being in an environment where most students value opportunities to learn; students that take a number of AP courses will have the same experience, and they’ll get to do so with their actual peers. Arguably, I believe that a public school experience enhanced by a variety of AP courses offers all of the advantages of that environment with few of the drawbacks.
It may be a self-serving argument, but I believe that most students that form a profound bond with an instructor - one that might inform their world view, or their thoughts on what they want for themselves in the future - will do so in high school. Especially in AP classes, students have far more access to their high school teachers than they do with their college instructors. It may sound like a joke, as it’s commonly accepted that public school teachers aren’t paid very well - I’d certainly like to be paid more - but I have two peers who say that they moved from teaching in community college to teaching in high school for the money; they were so poorly paid as college teachers that each needed to teach at more than one school to make ends’ meet, and therefore found themselves with extremely little time to engage with students outside of classroom hours. In the case of our school, that means we have two more motivated and talented educators on our staff, and our local community colleges have two less. Even the motivated students one is likely to find in dual-credit programs are still kids, and kids can deeply benefit from the relationships that they can build both with their age-appropriate peers and with their teachers, when given that chance. AP teachers are typically both extremely experienced and invested in their students’ success.
Ultimately, I don’t think there’s a bad choice here, but I do think that many (I’m sure not all) AP classes give students a chance to challenge themselves, achieve college credit, and still benefit from the social structure of the best version of the high school experience available to them, and I’m not convinced that Running Start, as a program, can achieve that.
