The committee is debating whether students taking AP courses should be required to take the exam that determines if they receive college credit for the class.
CHICOPEE – The School Committee is debating if students who take Advanced Placement courses should be required to take the exam that determines if they receive college credit for the class.
Currently Chicopee High School educators require all students to take the exam while those at Comprehensive High do not.
Advanced Placement classes, offered by The College Board, are college level courses high school students take over the period of a year. Students who score between a three and a five on a year-end exam are typically granted three college credits.
School committee member John F. Mruk said he is concerned that the expense of taking the test may discourage students from taking Advanced Placement courses. Students pay $87 per test and some can take as many as three or four classes.
“I think $87 is substantial for a high school student, especially if they take more than once class,” School Committee Adam D. Lamontagne said.
Students who are poor enough to be eligible for free or reduced lunch pay $10 for the exam. The school does help others who are unable to pay the fee, Chicopee High School Principal Roland R. Joyal Jr. said.
“I don’t think it is stopping anyone. If people have a problem we will help them,” he said.
The school has spent a lot of money making sure teachers are well trained in teaching the classes and have expanded the offerings to eight from the one that existed when he began as a principal, he said.
Joyal said last year 63 percent of the 108 students passed with a three or better. While there is a cost to the test, it is a bargain compared to a three-credit course at a college, which is $501 at Holyoke Community College or $1,399 at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, for example.
But Mruk said he is concerned students who do poorly in class and know they are not likely to earn a three must still take the exam.
“I just feel they are throwing their money away if they are not capable of scoring a three or better,” he said.
Most students do take the exam at Comprehensive High School, even though they are not required to do so, Principal Derek J. Morrison said.
One of the problems now is some colleges will give students’ credit but list their grade as a C if they get anything lower than a five on the exam, Morrison said.
A survey of 10 area schools show Northampton High School, Central High School in Springfield, West Springfield High School and Agawam High School require students to take the exam. Central pays the fee and Agawam and West Springfield have a grant that pays half.
Chicopee school officials considered applying for a similar grant but it had too many strings attached that would require high schools to change the program, Assistant Superintendent Deborah A. Drugan said.
The curriculum subcommittee of the School Committee will continue to discuss the issue and eventually send recommendations on whether students should be required to take the exam to the full committee to discuss, Lamontage said.