"Summer Camp for Math Geeks"
AP Calculus. Those words strike fear into the hearts of many high school students. But not for Al Wolmer, Head of the Math Department at Yeshiva Atlanta High School. For Al, they mean fun! Al recently returned from Kansas City where he and 850 other high school and college calculus teachers spent a week grading the free response portions of this year’s AP Calculus exams.
Al has been teaching AP Calculus at Yeshiva Atlanta for seven years. Two years ago, he was selected to participate in the College Board’s Annual AP Reading in Calculus. Each June, AP teachers and college faculty members from around the world gather in the United States to evaluate and score the free-response sections of the AP Exams. The Calculus exams, as well as others, are read in Kansas City, Missouri.
AP Readers are high school and college educators who represent many of the finest academic institutions in the world. The AP Reading is a unique forum in which an academic dialogue between high school and college educators is both fostered and encouraged. “The Reading draws upon the talents of some of the finest teachers and professors that the world has to offer,” said Trevor Packer, Senior Vice President, AP and College Readiness at the College Board. “It fosters professionalism, allows for the exchange of ideas, and strengthens the commitment to students and to teaching. We are very grateful for the contributions of talented educators like Al.”
The Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) enables willing and academically prepared students to pursue college-level studies – with the opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement or both – while still in high school. Through AP courses in 34 subjects, each culminating in a rigorous exam, students learn to think critically, construct solid arguments, and see many sides of an issue – skills that prepare them for college and beyond. Research indicates that students who score a 3 or higher on an AP Exam typically experience greater academic success in college and are more likely to earn a college degree than non-AP students.
Yeshiva Atlanta offers a number of AP courses, including Calculus, Statistics, English Literature, English Language, US History, Biology, Chemistry, and others.
Overall, in 2012, more than 11,000 AP Readers evaluated more than 3.5 million AP Exams. In Kansas City, Al and his 850 fellow calculus teachers graded over 360,000 exams, which meant carefully reading and evaluating almost 2.2 MILLION questions in seven days. As you might expect, Al can do the math, and he says that works out to reading, evaluating, and recording the scores for an average of 75 questions per hour. All day long. For seven days.
“It’s a pretty intensive operation”, said Al. “For the most part, Readers read only three questions during the week. That means we read each question almost one thousand times. We are briefed on a question before we read it, so that we understand and can apply the rubric to our scoring. This is important, because we want to give every student credit for demonstrating understanding of the concepts as well as the mechanics of calculus. When we read the same question as many times as we do, it becomes easier to quickly identify and give credit for those aspects of the students’ response. Our priority is accuracy and consistency in grading, with speed being secondary.”
And this is fun?
“Well, yeah, it really is. My wife calls it summer camp for math geeks, but it’s more than that. Obviously, there’s the social and professional interaction with calculus teachers from around the country. But in addition, being an AP Reader, one becomes much more aware of the fundamental learning objectives of the course. Further, being able to closely analyze the work of 3000 students, I can see patterns of conceptual misunderstanding which I might not otherwise have thought existed. By incorporating that knowledge into my teaching, I become a better teacher. And that’s why AP teachers should consider being a Reader and why their schools should support them in that effort. I am extremely grateful to Yeshiva Atlanta for supporting me in this and other professional development efforts”
Al has been teaching AP Calculus at Yeshiva Atlanta for seven years. Two years ago, he was selected to participate in the College Board’s Annual AP Reading in Calculus. Each June, AP teachers and college faculty members from around the world gather in the United States to evaluate and score the free-response sections of the AP Exams. The Calculus exams, as well as others, are read in Kansas City, Missouri.
AP Readers are high school and college educators who represent many of the finest academic institutions in the world. The AP Reading is a unique forum in which an academic dialogue between high school and college educators is both fostered and encouraged. “The Reading draws upon the talents of some of the finest teachers and professors that the world has to offer,” said Trevor Packer, Senior Vice President, AP and College Readiness at the College Board. “It fosters professionalism, allows for the exchange of ideas, and strengthens the commitment to students and to teaching. We are very grateful for the contributions of talented educators like Al.”
The Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) enables willing and academically prepared students to pursue college-level studies – with the opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement or both – while still in high school. Through AP courses in 34 subjects, each culminating in a rigorous exam, students learn to think critically, construct solid arguments, and see many sides of an issue – skills that prepare them for college and beyond. Research indicates that students who score a 3 or higher on an AP Exam typically experience greater academic success in college and are more likely to earn a college degree than non-AP students.
Yeshiva Atlanta offers a number of AP courses, including Calculus, Statistics, English Literature, English Language, US History, Biology, Chemistry, and others.
Overall, in 2012, more than 11,000 AP Readers evaluated more than 3.5 million AP Exams. In Kansas City, Al and his 850 fellow calculus teachers graded over 360,000 exams, which meant carefully reading and evaluating almost 2.2 MILLION questions in seven days. As you might expect, Al can do the math, and he says that works out to reading, evaluating, and recording the scores for an average of 75 questions per hour. All day long. For seven days.
“It’s a pretty intensive operation”, said Al. “For the most part, Readers read only three questions during the week. That means we read each question almost one thousand times. We are briefed on a question before we read it, so that we understand and can apply the rubric to our scoring. This is important, because we want to give every student credit for demonstrating understanding of the concepts as well as the mechanics of calculus. When we read the same question as many times as we do, it becomes easier to quickly identify and give credit for those aspects of the students’ response. Our priority is accuracy and consistency in grading, with speed being secondary.”
And this is fun?
“Well, yeah, it really is. My wife calls it summer camp for math geeks, but it’s more than that. Obviously, there’s the social and professional interaction with calculus teachers from around the country. But in addition, being an AP Reader, one becomes much more aware of the fundamental learning objectives of the course. Further, being able to closely analyze the work of 3000 students, I can see patterns of conceptual misunderstanding which I might not otherwise have thought existed. By incorporating that knowledge into my teaching, I become a better teacher. And that’s why AP teachers should consider being a Reader and why their schools should support them in that effort. I am extremely grateful to Yeshiva Atlanta for supporting me in this and other professional development efforts”
