AP test iPad nix hit
Students, Ed. Dept. blast College Board rule
Outraged city students, teachers and Education Department officials are giving the College Board failing marks for a plan to prohibit students from using their city-issued iPads to take virtual advanced placement exams this spring.
After months of advertising only an in-person option for the test, the College Board rolled out a plan to offer the exam online last week, but barred the use of iPads — the main tool city officials have used since the start of the pandemic to expand digital access to tech-strapped families.
“In the midst of a crisis that has disproportionately impacted vulnerable students across New York City and the country, College Board has made the nonsensical and unacceptable decision to ban iPads from being used to take AP exams, even though iPads were permitted last year,” said Education Department spokeswoman Danielle Filson of last Thursday’s directive.
The iPad AP exam snag is the latest in a series of conflicts over the logistics and fairness of administering high-stakes tests during the pandemic.
Last year, in the early stages of the pandemic, the College Board offered an abbreviated version of the AP tests and allowed students to use iPads and phones, or submit pictures of handwritten responses.
This year, the tests are returning to their full three-hour length.
Schools can offer the test on pencil and paper in-person, but in order to qualify for a digital exam, a student must have access to a computer or laptop with a built-in camera.
College Board officials didn’t explain the rationale for prohibiting iPads, but city officials familiar with their thinking said the restriction arose from concerns over test security and formatting.
“This spring, schools can choose the exam administration options that work best for them,” said College Board spokesman Jerome White in a statement.
“For this spring, we understand that there are New York City students who have been provided with an iPad, and we are in touch with the NYCDOE to give as many AP students as possible the opportunity to test,” he continued.
But for many city students, neither an in-person test nor an at-home version on a computer is a feasible option.
Maryam Diallo, a high school senior in Brooklyn who’s signed up for an AP world history exam this spring, doesn’t feel comfortable returning to a school building for fear of exposing her family to the virus.
City high school buildings are currently closed and there is no concrete time line for reopening them.
Diallo said she worked for months to secure a city-issued iPad and said it’s been “a lifesaver.”
“Now College Board comes out of nowhere talking about, ‘Oh you need to use a computer.’ It’s like, do they think? Do they have empathy?
“A computer, if you live in a big family with a lot of people, that’s something you share,” she added.
City officials have distributed roughly 400,000 iPads since the start of the pandemic, opting for tablets over laptops because they can be equipped with cellular internet plans for families without Wi-Fi and were available in greater bulk last spring.
City teachers say the iPad restrictions throw another wrench into an already challenging year for the city’s roughly 60,000 teens enrolled in Advanced Placement courses.
“It kind of seems College Board is doing everything in its power to stack the cards against New York City kids,” said Michael Frank, an AP world history teacher at the High School for Environmental Studies in Hell’s Kitchen.
“A lot of them [students] rely on the devices we gave out, which were iPads,” he said. “It’s very grim. I told my kids, ‘If you pull this one off, no one can ever say anything against you.’ ”
Officials have made a concerted effort in recent years to expand AP access, and have seen marked growth in the number of Black and Hispanic students taking the exams in recent years. Some officials worry inequitable pandemic-testing plans will jeopardize that progress.
Some of the exams, including the World Language test, can only be offered in-person this year because of a required speaking and listening portion.
That’s raised additional concerns for foreign language teachers who say some students have left the state and country, and worry students will struggle without sustained practice with the audio recording technology before taking the exam.
Education Department officials said they’ll continue pushing the College Board to expand access to iPads.