Buried in an Ed Week article on online AP courses — more 21st-century skills talk.
“[C]ourse requirements are being retooled to include more-robust content, but with a focus on the development of 21st-century skills,” says the executive director of curriculum and content development at College Board.
This isn’t the first indicator that AP has fallen prey to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills’ slick presentation. In fact, the College Board Standards for College Success highlight 21st century skills. There is no call for students to develop deep content knowledge. Rather, students should “reflect 21st-century skills such as problem solving, critical and creative thinking, collaboration, and media and technological literacy.”
We’ve criticized College Board for turning from content. And we’re not the only ones who have noticed.
Focusing on skills rather than learning. AP is still a “mile wide and an inch deep,” and College Board missteps again.
Stephanie Porowski
[...] for these students, College Board’s Advanced Placement Program (AP) seems determined to water down its curriculum. To this end, College Board Vice President Trevor Packer, who oversees the AP program, [...]