Starting this year, American high-school students who pass the Advanced Placement® program’s Literature and Composition test might owe two St. Johnsbury Academy English teachers a “Thank you.”
Steven Jolliffe, the Academy’s English Department Chair, and colleague Richard McCarthy, have published a 211-page, softcover study and practice guide to accompany the course’s primary text, Literature: an Introduction to Reading and Writing, 2nd Edition.
Available through Pearson Education Inc., one of the nation’s leading publishers of educational books, including the Advanced Placement program’s test preparation series, Jolliffe and McCarthy’s book first started taking shape in mid-February, after Pearson contacted Academy secretary Elaine Evans, who helps organize the school’s annual Advanced Placement® Summer Institute.
“Our Summer Institute has an excellent reputation throughout AP® circles, so Pearson was familiar with the Academy and thought someone here might be interested in taking on the project,” Jolliffe said. “When Elaine asked me if I’d be interested, I said, ‘Sure,’ figuring it would be a great way to help give the Academy some exposure throughout the country.”
Jolliffe soon discovered the project was bigger and more complicated that he originally thought.
“Neither of us had written a book or dealt with the world of publishing before, so we encountered a few surprises and had to do some learning along the way,” Jolliffe said. “At first, I thought Pearson just wanted us (the Academy’s English teachers as a group) to do a section and that we had a long time to do it. A little while later, I found out they were talking about just me and they needed it in six weeks. That’s when I asked Dick McCarthy to help.”
Both teach Academy AP® English courses, and Jolliffe also serves as a “Reader” (scorer) for tests submitted by students from throughout the country.
The teachers’ vision for the book was also sometimes at odds with the publisher’s.
“Many literature textbooks are filled up with recycled works that have been used in English classes for decades, or even longer,” Jolliffe said. “Dick and I were looking for something fresh, not just a re-packaging of the traditional canon.”
“Eventually, we found something we’re all happy with, and we met the deadline, but it was a little crazy at times,” he added.
McCarthy agreed, describing the project as “very engaging.”
“Both of us have been teaching AP courses for close to ten years, and feel we have a pretty good sense of how to prepare students for the exam,” McCarthy said. “For the book, we wanted to provide some challenging samples and new strategies that perhaps some students and instructors have not seen. It was a good experience.”
Incorporating several contemporary literary works and non-traditional activities used in Academy English classes, the three-part book addresses poetry, prose, and drama, providing a detailed description of the AP® Literature and Composition test, test-taking strategies, time management tips, practice exercises, and sample tests.
The Advanced Placement® program is administered by The College Board, offering college credit or advanced standing at most American colleges and universities for successful completion of the test.