House Bill 2868 requires those who are teaching students in preparation for college advanced placement tests to have graduate credits in the topic area of the test.
** There has been an update to this alert. Read it here.
This specifically includes homeschoolers. If the bill passes, homeschool parents would need to have graduate credits in each AP test subject that their students wished to test on.
Read the bill text (PDF download). You can also watch the bill hearing video starting at 32:00.
OCEANetwork opposes House Bill 2868.
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First, the bill embodies a lack of basic knowledge about how homeschooling actually works.
Homeschooled students who take college advanced placement tests are ready for college work, self-motivated, and largely self-taught about the subject matter of the tests. These students would not be taking a “course” within the homeschool taught by the parent.
This bill apparently would require either the (mostly hands off) parents or the students (who are teaching themselves) to have “27 quarter hours of graduate level course work relevant to the course.” This is alien to the philosophy and practice of homeschooling. It also does not make sense to require a student to have graduate coursework in order to just study for undergraduate credits. And homeschool parents do not need graduate credit just to encourage their students onward.
Second, and more broadly, the bill ignores what college advanced placement is all about (read about it here).
Colleges do not care about how students learned the material. The only thing that matters is how well the student does on the AP test. This bill is about suppressing non-approved (in the opinion of the bill sponsor) methods of learning rather than about supporting what the colleges know is needed at their schools.
Call to Action on HB 2868
HB 2868 is in the House Education Committee. Members are:
- Representative Teresa Alonso Leon (D, Chair)
Rep.TeresaAlonsoLeon@oregonlegislature.gov
503-986-1422 - Representative Courtney Neron (D, Vice-Chair)
Rep.CourtneyNeron@oregonlegislature.gov
503-986-1426 - Representative Suzanne Weber (R, Vice-Chair)
Rep.SuzanneWeber@oregonlegislature.gov
503-986-1432 - Representative Zach Hudson (D)
Rep.ZachHudson@oregonlegislature.gov
(503) 986-1449 - Representative Mark Owens (R)
Rep.MarkOwens@oregonlegislature.gov
503-986-1460 - Representative Jeff Reardon (D)
Rep.JeffReardon@oregonlegislature.gov
503-986-1448 - Representative Ricki Ruiz (D)
rep.RickiRuiz@oregonlegislature.gov
503-986-1450 - Representative David Brock Smith (R)
Rep.DavidBrockSmith@oregonlegislature.gov
503-986-1401 - Representative Janeen Sollman (D)
Rep.JaneenSollman@oregonlegislature.gov
503-986-1430 - Representative Boomer Wright (R)
Rep.BoomerWright@oregonlegislature.gov/
503-986-1409
The Committee members need to hear from you about this bill.Use your own words. Be respectful and polite.
Thank you for standing with OCEANetwork as we defend the right of homeschool families to do what is best for their children.
Rodger Williams
OCEANetwork Freedom Watch Team
If you have questions about this alert, please contact OCEANetwork here so we can forward it on to our Freedom Watch Team.
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