Two Hopewell Valley Central High School teachers of Advanced Placement (AP) courses were chosen to present their work at an international conference during the summer, demonstrating how their students marry the fields of statistics and government in year-end projects, according to Alicia Brooks Waltman, district spokeswoman.
AP statistics teacher Adam Shrager and AP U.S. government and politics teacher Paul Tkacs were chosen to present their work at the Advanced Placement Annual Conference in Philadelphia in July. They were among a select few chosen to present from among hundreds of teachers in 34 advanced placement subjects. And theirs was one of only a few presentations on a project that married two separate AP areas of study.
"Ours is not just a government project, it’s not just a statistics project," said Mr. Shrager, who has taught statistics at CHS for 10 years, and teaches the subject as an adjunct professor at The College of New Jersey and Princeton University. He has also graded AP statistics exams for the College Board. "It’s the intersection of these two disciplines."
It was the first time that he or Mr. Tkacs had attended the annual conference.
In their talk,"Joint AP Statistics and AP U.S. Government Culminating Symposium," the teachers discussed projects students did last spring, in which the classes were combined and students formed small groups. The groups then chose a social/political issue, such as gun control, abortion, gay marriage or the sale of alcohol. Using statistical methods they learned in AP Stats and policy analysis learned in AP Gov, the students crafted data-supported proposals and legislation on the issues and presented these proposals at a forum held for teachers, school administrators and local politicians.
For example, one group of students looked at the issue of selling alcohol in grocery stores, which is allowed in some states but not in New Jersey. Starting from the position that grocery stores in New Jersey should sell alcohol, the students ran statistical analysis comparing alcohol-related car accidents in New Jersey with those in California, which allows the sale of alcohol in food stores. The students determined that there was a statistically significant higher incidence, per capita, of auto accidents attributed to alcohol in California than in New Jersey. This led them to reconsider their original proposal that the law be changed in their home state.
At the conference, Mr. Shrager and Mr. Tkacs also presented the joint projects their students did in 2012, when they used statistical methodology and an understanding of the dynamics of electoral politics to successfully predict which presidential candidate would win in 15 out of 16 swing-states in the presidential election.
"We have a really unique collaboration in which the kids use the college-level skills taught in these classes to do a really dynamic, end-of-year project," said Mr. Shrager. "It’s a lot more than rote book learning; they are attempting to think about and solve some real policy problems."
Mr. Tkacs, who also teaches world history at CHS, said the exchange of ideas he had at the conference with teachers from around the country would benefit his teaching in Hopewell Valley.
"I connected with an AP Gov teacher from the Bronx, and we are working on a joint project on the mid-term congressional elections in November," he said. "The conference was the most rewarding professional development experience I have ever participated in."

