Sharp and ambitious high school students used to be able to get a head start on college by doing well on Advanced Placement exams. Sadly, the College Board has dumbed them down and injected them with politics, thereby decreasing their value.

In today’s Martin Center article, David Randall of the National Association of Scholars suggests other ways for high-achieving high school students to start college early.

One suggestion is to strengthen “early-college and dual-degree classes” so that “students can take their entire range of required college courses in high school and avoid the stranglehold of politicized instruction at the college level.”

That, however, calls for better high school teachers. Randall suggests that states adopt a model bill on teacher licensure requiring teachers to master the content they’ll teach and not just jump through the hoops of education school baloney.

Randall concludes:

The College Board does great damage to American students. But so, too, do too many university professors. We must provide substitutes for the College Board, reform the universities, and make sure that our high schools are capable not only of providing real preparation for college but also of providing early-college courses that truly are the equivalents of college education.