[Edu-sig] Could there be a new test, call it AP something else?

[Litvin]

At 09:36 AM 1/25/2010, David MacQuigg wrote:
>I can't imagine teaching or testing CS without an actual 
>language.  A much better alternative would be to have the same test 
>in multiple languages (perhaps with a "handicap" factor for the 
>students choosing Python, so they don't have an embarrassing advantage :>).

Sure, for teaching you can use a particular language (or 
two).  Testing is another matter.  Currently AP free-response 
questions are not just "program this" or "program that" -- they are 
stated in a particular language, e.g., here is a class, implement 
this particular method.  They also have a "case study," now in Java, 
and ask questions about it, e.g., to write a new method or to 
implement a new derived class.  The questions never ask students to 
write a complete program.  Then ETS brings together 80 or so teachers 
and college profs for a week each June to grade AP CS free-response 
questions.  These readers would have to be polyglots.  They use an 
elaborate rubric to grade a question, with partial credit given for 
every little bit remotely related to the right answer.  Supporting 
multiple languages would cost the College Board and ETS a lot of 
money, and this is a relatively small exam (about 20,000 students).

There are many programming competitions, of course, where they care 
only about the program's correct result, such as  ACSL -- 
http://www.acsl.org/.  That's where Python programmers have a great 
advantage.  Unfortunately, few contestants use it now, because it is 
not widely taught in schools yet.  Does a contest specifically for 
Python programmers exist?  Is it feasible?

Gary Litvin
www.skylit.com