What K-12 and higher education can learn from each other — from edweek.org by Ethan Ake-Little
Excerpts:
In 1952, three prep schools—the Lawrenceville School, Phillips Academy, and Phillips Exeter Academy—and three universities—Harvard, Princeton, and Yale—came together to participate in a bold experiment which ultimately introduced the radical concept of allowing high school seniors the chance to study college-level material and take achievement exams for college credit. Thus, the Advanced Placement program was born. More than six decades later, the program continues to offer students an opportunity to pursue college-level content with greater individualized instruction than many first-year college courses.
While the AP program has helped to bridge the gap between K-12 and higher education, both institutions remain largely unaware of how the other operates.
Despite stark differences in structure and philosophy, K-12 and higher education cannot avoid the fact that they need one other to serve all students’ educational needs. But to bridge their divide, both K-12 educators and higher education instructors must move outside their comfort zones and immerse themselves in each other’s world. Only then can both sides truly innovate in much the same way they did in 1952 to develop a program that is the hallmark of this partnership today.