College Board Changes Plan to Erase Thousands of Years of History From AP Exam

College Board Changes Plan to Erase Thousands of Years of History From AP Exam

They were going to change the exam to start at 1450, but after criticism they’re changing it to the year 1200. Not much of an improvement.

Inside Higher Ed reports:

Compromising on a Timeline for History

Responding to criticism of its earlier plan to begin the Advanced Placement World History exam around the year 1450, the College Board on Wednesday announced that it would begin the test with questions starting at about 1200.

The board also committed to offering a second AP world history course focused on the ancient world, in another apparent compromise to those who said that a single world history course focused on the modern era risked being too Eurocentric.

Currently, the single AP World History exam covers about 10,000 years. While some teachers like the scope of the exam, others say that it is simply too sweeping and that real learning suffers as a result. Taking the concerns of that latter group into account, the board, which administers the AP program, said earlier this year that it would limit the exam to questions about content from 1450 onward.

But criticism followed, with educators charging that eliminating the study of ancient civilizations meant erasing the test’s — and therefore the AP World History course’s — non-European content. Not only would that be a loss for education, they said, but also for nonwhite students who saw themselves reflected in the study of diverse peoples.

“The current AP World History course and exam attempt to cover 10,000 years of human history — from the Paleolithic Era to the present,” the board said in its Wednesday announcement, summing up the problem. In contrast, it said, “colleges manage the unique breadth of world history by spreading the content across multiple courses. Because AP World History does not do so, a majority of AP World History teachers have told us that they were teaching too little about too much. Students’ essay scores on the end-of-year AP exam have reflected that overwhelming challenge.”

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