LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i High School sophomore Pepper Page earned a 5, the highest score possible, on the advanced-placement art-history exam, said Michelle Dressler, the fine arts teacher at Kaua‘i High School.
“The class was challenging, and forced me to push myself academically,” Page said. “Through it, I was able to learn better study habits along with being a self-directed learner.”
Kaua‘i High students rank above the state and national mean on the AP art-history exam for the fifth consecutive year, according to the AP scores for Hawai‘i students released by The College Board recently.
The board that also governs the SAT administers the AP exams in May of each school year, with the scores released in July. Students with passing scores of 3, 4 or 5 on the AP art-history exam may earn college credit.
Dressler is a National Board Certified Teacher involved in the College Board AP Art History Teacher Community, where she connects with other AP educators, college professors and art historians.
“I’m extremely proud of my students,” Dressler said. “This year, they had the additional challenges of unexpectedly moving to distance learning during the fourth quarter. However, my students stepped up to the challenges of the course material and adapted to the change in format delivery of the AP art-history exam.”
State Department of Education Advanced Placement Program Manager Dr. Anna Viggiano nominated Dressler, based on her students’ continued success, to participate in a new, online, instructional-video initiative the College Board is launching to support AP teachers and students for the 2020-21 school year and beyond.
The AP art-history course promotes in-depth student investigation of diverse artistic traditions of cultures from prehistory to the present from a global perspective. Students learn and apply skills of visual, contextual and comparative analysis of 250 works of art and architectural structures during a rigorous course and exam.
Dressler’s approach to teching is to get students to focus on learning rather than earning points or specific grades.
“When students move into that mindset, they think at a higher level and make the essential connections enabling them to apply the crucial critical-thinking skills to form in-depth analyses to support their ideas,” she said.
“I’m proud of all of my students for persevering and putting forth their best efforts in spite of the quick adjustments we needed to make changing to distance learning. They deserve recognition for their accomplishments.”
•••
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
