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The Link between Advanced Placement Experience and Early College Success
Abstract
The Advanced Placement (AP) Program was originally designed to provide students a means to earn college credit and/or advanced placement for learning college-level material in high school. Today the program serves an equally important role as a signal in college admissions. This paper examines the extent to which AP course-taking predicts early college grades and retention. Controlling for a broad range of student, school, and curricular characteristics, we find that AP experience does not reliably predict first semester college grades or retention to the second year. We show that failing to control for the student’s non-AP curricular experience, particularly in math and science, leads to positively biased AP coefficients. Our findings raise questions about recent state policies mandating AP inclusion in all school districts or high schools and the practice of giving preference to students with AP course experience in the university admissions process.
... Many studies [1] - [37] investigated various factors of retention in STEM (Science, Technologies, Engineering, and Mathematics) education for undergraduates, including demographics [9], [10], [17], financial aids [1], [11], [14], [22], [25], [33], test scores and grades in high school [2], [4], [7] - [10], [12], [13], [15] - [19], [21], [22], test scores and grades in university/college [2], [3], [13], [27], [33], [34], courses and curriculums [3], [5] - [7], intellectual skills and abilities [2] - [4], [6], [8] - [10], [16], [20], motivational factors and selfefficacy [2], [5], [7], [26], [29], academic and social environments [3], [6], [9], [30] - [32], [36], [37], and interventions [2], [3], [6], [23], [24], [28]. These studies identified factors that were commonly shared by a significant number of undergraduate students who achieved the STEM retention, and thus presented common student characteristics of STEM retention. ...
... Moreover, this study adds new findings about some factors of STEM retention investigated in the past. This study points out that measures of high school academic performance (e.g., GPA, rank percentile, SAT and ACT) [2], [4], [7] - [10], [12], [13], [15] - [19], [21], [22] are not useful in determining student retention in engineering at ASU. This study reveals that scholarships and financial aids [1], [11], [14], [22] are not related to engineering student retention at ASU possibly because switching from engineering to nonengineering did not affect students' scholarships and financial aids. ...
... Cognitive measures like high school grade point average, standardized test scores (Astin & Oseguera, 2005;Choy, 2002;Lotkowski, Robbins, & Noeth, 2004), and advanced placement courses (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009;Palmer, Davis, & Hilton, 2009) have been linked to college readiness and persistence. Strong performance on standardized tests (e.g., ACT, SAT) has been associated with cognitive development and academic gains for Black males (Strayhorn, 2010). ...
... Strong performance on standardized tests (e.g., ACT, SAT) has been associated with cognitive development and academic gains for Black males (Strayhorn, 2010). Advanced placement courses have been linked to readiness, and in shaping student efficacies to persist in college (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009;Schwartz & Washington, 2002;Strayhorn, 2008b). Menson, Patelis, and Doyle (2009) noted that Black males who participate in advanced placement courses build positive study habits, research skills, and higher-level thinking. ...
While the literature is replete with studies on persistence among students across academic majors, few studies examine the nature of persistence among Black males enrolled in baccalaureate social work programs. This qualitative study offers some insight into how a sample of four Black male graduates from an accredited baccalaureate social work program persisted toward degree attainment. Three themes emerged from this study: (a) family encouragement and support, (b) sense of belonging, and (c) presence of Black male professors. Findings suggest the need for social work educators to consider programmatic initiatives acknowledging the role of families in persistence efforts, facilitating connectedness, and recruiting Black male professors or other Black male mentors.
... This finding suggests that when students are challenged by rigorous high school coursework, they are better prepared for the course load and academic demands of their first semester of college. Consistent with previous research, students who complete a challenging or rigorous curriculum in high school were more successful in college (Klopfenstein & Lively, 2012;Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009). ...
... It is plausible that these courses, especially honors courses, help to prepare students for the rigor of college courses. Alternatively, students who take five or more honors courses and more than one AP course are likely positioned with the ability and support required for successful completion of more rigorous courses and will naturally excel in their postsecondary endeavors, as research conducted by Klopfenstein and Thomas (2009) suggested. Should school systems expand AP and honor course offerings in an effort better prepare students for college, they are encouraged to do so judiciously and consider the implications and unintended consequences. ...
This study explored the impact of Advanced Placement and honors course enrollment and high school grade point average (GPA) on first-semester college GPA. Data were collected from 131 college freshmen enrolled at a minority-serving institution who graduated from a public school during the previous academic year. A four-step hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that family structure, college status, enrollment in one or more Advanced Placement courses, and enrollment in five or more honors courses accounted for a significant amount of variance explained in first-semester college GPA, both individually and in combination. High school GPA intervened in these variables relationships with first-semester college GPA accounting for a significant amount of variance. Based on these findings, opportunities for future research and implications for K-12 schools and colleges are provided.
... Whether the aforementioned initiatives were a trigger or reaction is arguable, but it can be said there exists a current passion for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education that has gone hand-in-hand with AP science and math growth. Although there have been several studies regarding the effects of AP programs (e.g., Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009;Sadler & Tai, 2007), the ways that students are actually recruited to enroll into AP science and math courses and encouraged to complete AP exams have not been well studied. ...
... Despite such mixed results, there exists for schools an "élan of having AP courses, especially in science and mathematics" (Sadler & Tai, 2007, p. 5). Klopfenstein and Thomas (2009) pointed out that policymakers and high school administrators often misinterpret the predictive power of AP as a causal impact and consequently recommend that more and more students should enroll in STEM AP courses. ...
Although several studies have reported Advanced Placement (AP) growth, little attention has been paid to school- and classroom-level strategies that encourage students to enroll into AP courses and complete AP exams. This study focused on determining goals emphasized, and strategies used, by science and math teachers (N = 143). Results indicated teachers believe the greatest value of AP is in providing college-type experiences and boosting subject confidence; they place less importance on goals of students earning passing scores and improving college admission chances. Comparison based on school socioeconomic status indicated Title I teachers view AP as having greater value and are significantly more likely to require students to complete AP exams than non-Title I teachers. Title I teachers used twice the amount of strategies to convince students to complete AP exams. Interestingly, more than one third of the teachers enticed students by waiving final exams in lieu of completing AP exams.
... In a rush to cover all the content that might be assessed on the end-of-year exams, AP teachers may neglect to develop among students the types of skills that are necessary for college readiness or to employ the types of culturally relevant approaches useful for students from marginalized backgrounds. Klopfenstein and Thomas (2009) argue that when considering AP, scholars and practitioners must differentiate between curricula that is "college preparatory" and "college level" (p. 887). ...
... A number of scholars have made the case that robust AP course offerings may be inappropriate at schools serving predominantly low-income students. Klopfenstein and Thomas (2009) write, "At-risk high school students particularly benefit from skills-based instruction, including how to study, how to approach academic tasks, what criteria will be applied, and how to evaluate their own and others' work" (p. 887). ...
The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers an opportunity for students to earn college credit and develop college-ready skills in high school. The curriculum was initially designed for “superior” students at exclusive private schools. Recently, however, the AP program has expanded to serve more students from marginalized backgrounds, and equitable access has become one of its core objectives. Scholars have questioned whether AP can continue to offer effective college preparation while expanding beyond the populations it was initially designed to serve. This literature review summarizes existing research on whether the AP program has achieved its dual goals of equal access and effectiveness. The extant literature suggests that, despite impressive gains in access to AP, significant barriers remain to its becoming a program that ensures equal access for all students and effectively prepares them for college coursework. Assessing whether these barriers can be overcome, however, demands new approaches to AP research.
... there is considerable evidence that academic preparation and performance in high school−typically measured in terms of high school course completion patterns, grades, and/or college entrance exams−is positively related to not only graduation from high school, but also enrollment in postsecondary institutions (Berkner & chavez, 1997;choy, 2002;goldrick-Rab, carter, & wagner, 2007;lee, croninger, & smith, 1997). students who take a more rigorous high school curriculum, such as Advanced placement (Ap), honors, and other "college prep" courses (especially in math), are more likely to attend college and receive a postsecondary degree (Adelman, 2006;Altonji, 1995;Attewell & domina, 2008;horn & kojaku, 2001;klopfenstein & thomas, 2009;Rose & Betts, 2001). Among college preparatory curricula, the empirical evidence indicates the role of math course-taking in promoting access to a bachelor's degree relative to other subjects. ...
... several studies have sought to account for the potential bias noted above by employing quasi-experimental methods such as a propensity score matching (Attewell & domina, 2008) and instrumental variable (iV) approaches (klopfenstein & thomas, 2009;Rose & Betts, 2001). Attewell and domina (2008) account for the nonrandom selection of curricular choices by employing a propensity score matching technique that attempts to ensure the equivalence between the "treated" (students taking a college-preparatory curriculum) and "control" groups (those who did not take a college prep curriculum) based on observable characteristics. ...
Noting the benefits of mathematics in students' future educational attainment and labor market success, there is considerable interest in high school requirements in terms of course-taking in mathematics at the national, state, and school district level. Previous research indicates that taking advanced math courses in high school leads to positive college outcomes. However, these studies often fail to account for the self-selection of students into curricular pathways that may result in biased estimates of the effect of course-taking on subsequent educational outcomes. Applying an instrumental variable (IV) approach, we investigate how the level of math courses a student completes in high school differently affects their chances of attending and completing postsecondary education. Using longitudinal student unit record data from Florida, our results indicate that a statistical model that does not account for students' self-selection produces results different from a technique that corrects for this potential source of bias. Specifically, completing Algebra II significantly increases the probability of attending college, particularly two-year colleges, but has no significant effect on degree attainment.
... There is a need to improve the skill sets of the students attending the campus placements [1] [2] [3]. Study on their previous data with machine learning algorithms tells us the necessary measures to be taken to improve the quality of the students and increase the probability of getting placed [4][5] [6]. ...
In the era of data evolution, many organizations have taken the lead in storing the data in huge data repositories. Analysis of data comes with several challenges since the time the data is captures till the insights are inferred from the data. Accentuating the accuracy of data analysis is of paramount importance as many critical decisions are totally dependent on the outcomes of the analysis. Machine learning has been found as the most effective and most preferred tool in the literature for in-memory data analytics. Universities mostly collect the statistical data related to the students that is only either used quantitatively or sparsely analyzed to gain the insights that could be useful for the authorities to enhance the percentage of placements in campus drives held through early analysis of such data accurately. The work proposed in this paper formulates the problem of predicting the likelihood of a student getting placed in a company as a binary classification problem. Then it makes an effort to train and perform the empirical study of following multiple machine learning algorithms with the placement data; Logistic Regression, Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine, K-Nearest Neighbor and Decision Tree. The machine learning classification models are built to predict the probabilities of a student getting placed in a company based on the student’s academic scores, achievements, work experience (internship), and many other relevant features. Such an analysis helps the university authorities to dynamically create plans to enhance the unlikely students to be placed in a company participating in the campus recruitment held in the university. To improve these models and to avoid the models from overfitting to the training data, strategies like K-Fold cross-validation is applied for various values of k. The machine learning models selected are also compared for its efficiency by employing the supervised and unsupervised feature extraction techniques such as PCA and LDA. The Decision Tree model with K as 10 for cross-validation and PCA has outperformed all the other models producing the accuracy of 72.83% with satisfactory support and recall during experimentation. The application focuses on the targeted group of students, to eventually improve the probability of students getting placed during campus recruitment drives held in the university.
... Therefore, Thompson and Rust's (2007) conclusions reject College Board's notion that AP students will perform better than non-AP students once in college. Additionally, questions were raised regarding giving preference to students who took many AP classes in high school during the college admissions process merely because AP classes are attributed with being more prepared for college (Klopfenstein and Thomas, 2009). Yet, a study examining success between AP science classes and their corresponding college classes found that there was a Volume 11 Issue 4 (2022) ISSN: 2167ISSN: -1907 www.JSR.org ...
The purpose of this study was to determine how the hybrid learning program implemented by School X had an impact on the school's Advanced Placement (AP) program. Prior research shows how the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on education and how AP has impacted school students; however, there was a lack of knowledge of how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted AP under the context of hybrid learning. Data was collected through survey research and a case study in which a mixed method was completed. Participants included 48 students enrolled in any of the following classes: Biology, European History, and World History as well as three teachers of the outlines AP classes at School X. Initial results showed that there were not significantly different AP scores in the hybrid year when compared to "normal" school years (2015-2019), and although students preferred in-person learning to hybrid learning, they did not feel as if it significantly hindered their performance in AP classes. Therefore, the conclusion can be made that although in-person learning is preferable to hybrid learning, it does not have a significant negative impact on AP classes; however, this is limited to students of AP classes and those who had a similar hybrid learning experience to School X. Future research should explore how the hybrid learning program impacted non-AP students as well as performing this study on larger populations to verify results.
... Studies also have linked taking AP courses with better performance on the ACT college entrance examination test . However, research has also found that AP course taking does not predict early college grades and retention once non-AP courses are accounted for (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009). ...
This study explores the extent to which student, family, peer, and school factors predict (a) whether students take Advanced Placement® (AP®) courses, International Baccalaureate (IB) courses, and dual enrollment courses and (b) in models limited to course takers, how many courses they completed. Our findings, based on a nationally representative, longitudinal sample, suggest that, when it comes to college-level high school course taking, the relative advantage of higher socioeconomic status (SES) is less for African American students than it is for White and Asian students. Ninth-grade math skills are the strongest predictor of AP or IB and dual enrollment course taking, above and beyond demographic background characteristics like SES and race or ethnicity. High school girls take AP/IB and dual enrollment courses at a higher rate than boys, and they take more of these courses. The level of academic focus of students and their peers is associated with both AP or IB and dual enrollment course taking, whereas having parents focused on college preparation and course taking only predicts AP or IB course taking. School factors associated with AP or IB course taking include U.S. region and rural location; the percentage of math teachers with a master's degree is also positively associated with the number of AP or IB courses students take. These findings highlight the importance of equitable educational opportunities starting from a young age. They also indicate a need for increased early attention to student math skills and for more supports for parents and school staff to enable them to encourage and prepare all students, especially those from historically marginalized groups, to take college-level courses in high school.
... AP course taking often affects GPA, class rank calculations, and access to specialized high school diploma credentials. While the actual rigor and college preparatory aspects of AP are contested, participation in AP courses is increasingly emphasized as an admissions criterion at postsecondary institutions (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009;Theokas & Saaris, 2013). Even though studies have found that AP provides no benefit beyond that provided by a non-AP curriculum strong in math and science, colleges and universities consistently cite rigorous high school coursework like AP as one of the most important criteria for college admissions (Clinedinst & Patel, 2019 ...
... Taking advanced high school math and science courses is an important predictor of college success (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009) and of such postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) outcomes as majoring in a STEM area in college, persisting in that area, and obtaining a STEM ...
... Research on Advanced Placement The College Board has conducted extensive research on the AP program, including validity studies and comparisons of AP and non-AP students in college illustrating that AP students earn higher grades and graduate at higher rates (Warne, 2017). However, scholars have identified methodological limitations of much of the College Board-sponsored research on Advanced Placement (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009;Sadler & Tai, 2007). The predominant concern is that most studies were simple comparisons of students who had or had not earned college credit based on their AP exam scores, ignoring other potentially confounding differences in student characteristics (Sadler & Tai, 2007). ...
Research on the Advanced Placement (AP) program generally shows that students scoring 4s and 5s on AP exams outperform their non-AP peers in subsequent college courses. However, faculty and academic advisors often suggest that students with AP credit should repeat prerequisite courses in college before attempting advanced coursework. We compared grades of 20,409 students in 42 subsequent courses across three groups: students who used AP credit as a prerequisite, students who earned AP credit but repeated the prerequisite courses in college, and students without AP credit. Results with two-level cross-sectional multilevel modeling showed that AP students performed similarly in subsequent courses whether they chose to repeat prerequisites or not; both groups outperformed non-AP students with similar academic backgrounds.
... Equivalent courses are determined by the postsecondary school for which the student is attempting to receive credit [38]. This program has allowed advanced students to earn college credit to avoid course redundancy and to narrow the academic gap between secondary school and higher education [39,40]. ...
Access and performance in advanced high school physics have been persistently inequitable when considering student ethnicity and gender. This quasiexperimental, observational study examined access and performance of students in four Advanced Placement (AP) Physics courses in 2018–2019: AP Physics 1 (
N
=
1
5
0
451
), AP Physics 2 (
N
=
20
466
), AP Physics C Mechanics (
N
=
49
951
), and AP Physics C Electricity & Magnetism (
N
=
21
602
); this analysis utilized an intersectional lens of ethnicity and gender in identifying enrollment and performance disparities. Descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted to determine whether the distribution of student ethnicities and genders of students who took the examinations was similar to that of U.S. schools. Further analyses were conducted to determine whether achievement on AP Physics examinations varied by 14 unique intersectional groups characterized by gender and ethnicity. Results indicated that AP Physics 1 was a relatively accessible course, though enrollment disparities among genders, ethnicities, and intersectional groups grew as the AP Physics courses became more advanced with physics and/or calculus prerequisites or corequisites. There were large decreases in course enrollments from first- to second-year AP Physics courses, particularly for women who were also underrepresented ethnic minorities. In terms of performance, AP Physics 1 had the lowest overall weighted average, with the majority of students failing the examination. Women who were traditionally underrepresented ethnic minorities were found to have failure rates of over 80% on the AP Physics 1 examination, and failure rates near 50% for AP Physics 2 and the AP Physics C courses compared to nonminority men who had approximately half the failure rates. In most cases, men outperformed women who shared their ethnicities. These results present opportunities for physics education policy makers and researchers to design interventions for students in intersecting marginalized social groups, many of whom have disproportionately low representation and achievement in advanced high school physics, which occurs at a critical juncture in the physics pipeline.
... Dougherty, Mellor and Jian (2006) confirm the hypothesis that preparing students through the contents of an AP course, is a good indicator that a given high school provides good College training to their students. On the other hand, Klopfenstein and Thomas (2009) determined through a group of sophomore students in Texas that, independently of race or economic status, the AP experience does not increase the probability of success during the first years of College studies. According to these authors, students that take the AP exam show a better performance during the first year of College. ...
Robot devices may be good candidates for neuromotor rehabilitation of people with Multiple Sclerosis, especially for treating upper extremities function limitations (76% of MS patients). The PABLO®-Tyromotion is a sensor-based device characterized by interactive therapy games with audio-visual feedback. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of robotic-trained motor rehabilitation as a support of the conventional neurorehabilitation, on increasing upper limbs functions of MS patients. An experimental group that performed the PABLO-Tyromotion training and a control group that performed conventional rehabilitation were compared. PABLO-Tyromotion training consisted of 40 min twelve sessions of upper limb training, three times a week, in addition to the conventional therapy. All patients were evaluated before treatment (T0) and after 4 weeks of training (T1). The results showed substantial improvements in the experimental group, compared to the control group, especially regarding muscular recruitment (such as shoulder and elbow flex-extension, forearm pronation and supination, thumb and little-finger op-position) and handgrips strength (such as thumb-index grip, thumb-middle finger grip, tridigital grip). These results underline the effectiveness of robot-assisted treatment in upper limb’s recovery in patients with MS.
... We estimate the August-September difference in taking advanced or remedial courses in middle school or Advanced Placement courses in high school. Advanced courses such as ones offered in the Advanced Placement Program were designed to provide high school students a way to learn university-level material while in high school and serve as an important signal in college admissions (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009). Furthermore, there are studies showing that passing AP exam scores are strong predictors of success in college (Hargrove et al., 2008;Keng & Dodd, 2008). ...
We present evidence of a positive relationship between school starting age and children’s
cognitive development from ages 6 to 18 using a fuzzy regression discontinuity
design and large-scale population-level birth and school data from the state of
Florida. We estimate effects of being old for grade (being born in September vs. August)
that are remarkably stable—always around 0.2 SD difference in test scores—across a
wide range of heterogeneous groups, based on maternal education, poverty at birth,
race/ethnicity, birth weight, gestational age, and school quality. While the September-
August difference in kindergarten readiness is dramatically different by subgroup, by
the time students take their first exams, the heterogeneity in estimated effects on test
scores effectively disappears. We do, however, find significant heterogeneity in other
outcome measures such as disability status and middle and high school course selections.
We also document substantial variation in compensatory behaviors targeted
towards young-for-grade children. While the more affluent families tend to redshirt
their children, young-for-grade children from less affluent families are more likely to
be retained in grades prior to testing. School district practices regarding retention and
redshirting are correlated with improved outcomes for the groups less likely to use
those remediation approaches (i.e., retention in the case of more affluent families and
redshirting in the case of less affluent families.) Finally, we find that very few school
policies or practices mitigate the test score advantage of September-born children.
... Scott and colleagues (2010) found that when controlling for student ethnicity, gender, class rank, and SAT score, students who had earned college credits through the AP program earned higher grade point averages in their first semester of college when compared to students who did not have AP credit. Therefore, this study uses AP course enrollment as an indicator of academic achievement at the school level; this is aligned with previous research (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009;Warne, 2017). ...
Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we investigated school counselors’ caseloads, how they spent their time, and the impact of those factors on schools’ academic outcomes. Results showed that approximately 85% of the school counselors had a caseload of 455 or fewer students, with roughly one quarter reporting caseloads equal to or less than 250, and that school counselors spent more of their time on college, scheduling, and personal/social/academic/career development. We also found that how school counselors spent their time was predictive of ninth-grade retention rates, the percentage of students who enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and the percentage of students who enrolled in 4-year universities. We provide discussion and implications for school counselors.
... Many students who pass the AP exam still take calculus I as undergraduates for several reasons: the university they attend only accepts a score of 4 or 5; students want to brush up on their skills; the university still requires a placement test (regardless of their AP score); or the student perceives a lack of alignment between AP Calculus and college calculus. Klopfenstein and Thomas (2009) examined the ability of the AP experience to predict college success by looking at the classroom environment and study habits in addition to test scores. Of the students in their sample who took the AP exam, 27.5% got a 3 or higher, yet still enrolled in an introductory calculus course for one of the above reasons. ...
... Deficiencies in these skills predict placement in remedial courses, contributing to lowered self-efficacy, delayed entry into credit-bearing coursework, and lower odds of postsecondary completion (Allen, Mattern, and Ndum 2019; Attewell et al. 2006;Conley 2010;Kurlaender and Howell 2012). Evidence also suggests that having taken AP courses contributes to persistence through college (Evans 2019;Klopfenstein and Thomas 2009;Niu and Tienda 2013), although the body of research on AP classes is small and mixed (Dougherty et al. 2006). AP courses became de rigueur for admission into many selective colleges during the period of study, and admissions officers often give weight to AP courses (Duta, An, and Iannelli 2017;Stevens 2007). ...
This article presents a new measure of curricular intensity that is objective, parsimonious, clearly defined, replicable, and comparable over time for use by researchers interested in examining trends, causes, and outcomes of high school course taking. After proposing a reduced-form version of Adelman’s curricular intensity index comprised of number of courses completed in English and core science, highest math course completed, and whether students took at least one Advanced Placement course, I test the measure in four National Center for Education Statistics high school longitudinal studies using confirmatory factor analysis. I examine the methodological implications of the measure by conducting multigroup tests for invariance across cohorts to understand how curricular intensity changes over time and comparing the measure’s predictive validity to that of alternative measures of course taking. I then examine substantive implications of the measure through analysis of trends and inequalities in curricular intensity. The four course-taking variables combined create a strong measure of curricular intensity across cohorts that performs as well as or better than Adelman’s index in explaining variance in postsecondary outcomes and predicting postsecondary success. The measure accounts for shifts over time in the relative contribution of each course-taking variable to overall curricular intensity, facilitating more accurate comparisons across cohorts or data sets. I provide practical guidance for using the measure in other data sets, including state- and district-level data, to analyze overall trends and gaps in curricular intensity and its role in postsecondary success, and I discuss some potential uses of the measure for future research and policy.
... To our knowledge, these concerns have never been rigorously explored. There is a modest body of research on the impact of AP courses and exams on student outcomes (e.g., Avery, Gurantz, Hurwitz, & Smith, 2017;Jackson, 2010Jackson, , 2014Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009;Warne, Sonnert, & Sadler, 2019). Yet we could find no research on the fidelity with which AP courses are implemented. ...
The Advanced Placement (AP) program has undergone two major reforms in recent decades: the first aimed at increasing access and the second at increasing relevance. Both initiatives are partially designed to increase the number of high school students from low-income backgrounds who have access to college-level coursework. Yet critics argue that schools in less-resourced communities are unable to implement AP at the level expected by its founders. We offer the first model of the components inherent in a well-implemented AP science course and the first evaluation of AP implementation with a focus on public schools newly offering the inquiry-based version of AP Biology and Chemistry courses. We find that these frontier schools were able to implement most, but not all, of the key components of an AP science course.
... AP students generally show higher academic achievement in high school and later on in college than do non-AP students, especially in the subject areas in which they take AP classes (e.g., Ackerman et al., 2013;Chajewski, Mattern, & Shaw, 2011;Ewing, Huff, & Kaliski, 2010;Gipson, 2016;Hansen et al., 2006;Mo, Yang, Hu, Calaway, & Nickey, 2011;Smith, Hurwitz, & Avery, 2017). However, it is important to note that these apparent differences in future academic achievement in college are reduced-or disappear completely-when researchers control for other variables (e.g., Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009;Sadler & Sonnert, 2010;Warne, Larsen, Anderson, & Odasso, 2015). ...
Increasing the number of students choosing a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) career is a national educational priority. One way thought to increase interest in STEM is with advanced STEM courses in high school, especially Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Using data from 15,847 college undergraduates, we investigated the relationship between participation in AP mathematics courses (AP Calculus and AP Statistics) and student career interest in STEM. After controlling for covariates, the strongest effect (d = 0.13) showed that students who took AP Calculus had a modestly higher career interest in engineering and mathematics/computer science. However, the relationship between most AP mathematics courses and most STEM career outcomes was negligible. Most differences in outcomes between AP and non-AP students are likely due to preexisting differences between the two groups.
... Contrary to the literature suggesting a positive impact of AP courses on college education, Bailey and Karp (2003) and Klopfenstein and Thomas (2009) conclude that generally there is not enough evidence to deduce strong causal relationships between college success and AP performance. Geiser and Santelices (2004) show that AP experience signals a high-achieving student, while merely taking an AP course is indicative of high school policy and not indicative of college readiness. ...
In this paper, we study the impact of Advanced Placement (AP) courses on the academic performance of business school students in finance courses. Consistent with the previous literature, we find that students with AP backgrounds present significantly better academic performance (grade point average) during their college education. In terms of students’ performance in individual finance courses, we find that the impact of successful AP experience is significantly pronounced in intro-/intermediate-level finance courses; however, such an impact is not found in a senior capstone finance course where finance majors must use their collective educational experience from other respective courses. Instead, a student’s performance in the senior capstone finance course is significantly influenced by his/her performance in intermediate-level finance courses regardless of AP background. Our results suggest that studious and consistent performance during the college years is more critical for students to successfully complete and conclude their college learning experience than their AP backgrounds.
... However, when the confounding effects of self-selection by students (with more able students joining AP programs) and inter-school differences (with better resourced secondary schools more likely to adopt the AP program taught by more experienced teachers) are taken into account, the picture is more complex. For example, after controlling for these factors, Klopfenstein and Thomas (2009) find no relationship between AP experience and either first-semester college grades or retention to the second year. ...
... Bettinger et al. found that individual guidance increased FAFSA completion rates along with college enrollment and persistence [74]. Likewise, Oreopoulos and Dunn found that increased access to information increased student interest and thus was positively associated with students seeking information about enrollment and financial aid [75]. ...
Educators and policymakers are keenly aware of the need to prepare students to compete in an increasingly global society. It is widely accepted that a high school diploma is not sufficient and that secondary schools have a responsibility to prepare students to be college and career ready. This study examined participation in a rigorous secondary curriculum and the corresponding outcomes related to college enrollment, persistence, and graduation. Focusing on the involvement of students in high-rigor courses that provide a stronger pathway to college, we seek to understand further the indicators that lead to postsecondary success. The sample comprises 1464 students who graduated from high school between 2009 and 2014. The primary analytic technique was binary logistic regression. The results from this study confirmed that a positive relationship exists between high-rigor courses and college success. This relationship was evident even after controlling for relevant student demographics including gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The academic benefits of the high-rigor course participation are discussed.
... We estimate the August-September difference in taking advanced or remedial courses in middle school or Advanced Placement courses in high school. Advanced courses such as ones offered in the Advanced Placement Program were designed to provide high school students a way to learn university-level material while in high school and serve as an important signal in college admissions (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009). Furthermore, there are studies showing that passing AP exam scores are strong predictors of success in college (Hargrove et al., 2008;Keng & Dodd, 2008). ...
We present evidence of a positive relationship between school starting age and children’s cognitive development from age 6 to 15 using a regression discontinuity design and large-scale population-level birth and school data from the state of Florida. We estimate effects of being relatively old for grade (being born in September versus August) that are remarkably stable – always just around 0.2 SD difference in test scores – across a wide range of heterogeneous groups, based on maternal education, poverty at birth, race/ethnicity, birth weight, gestational age, and school quality. While the September-August difference in kindergarten readiness is dramatically different by subgroup, by the time students take their first exams, the heterogeneity in estimated effects effectively disappears. We document substantial variation in compensatory behaviors targeted towards young for grade children. While the more affluent families tend to redshirt their children, young for grade children from less affluent families are more likely to be retained in grades prior to testing. School district practices regarding retention and redshirting are correlated with improved outcomes for the groups less likely to use those remediation approaches (i.e., retention in the case of more-affluent families and redshirting in the case of less-affluent families.) We also study college and juvenile detention outcomes using administrative data from a large Florida school district, and show that being an older age at school entry increases children’s college attainment and reduces the likelihood of being incarcerated for juvenile crime.
... Further, high school Advanced Placement (AP) course and exam participation have been identified as positive predictors of college preparation, choice, admissions, and early success (Chajewski, Mattern, & Shaw, 2011;Scott, Tolson, & Lee, 2010). Although some research has demonstrated unclear relationships between participating in AP courses and students' college success (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009;Thompson & Rust, 2007), others have found that AP exam scores are associated with first-year college GPA (Scott et al., 2010;Shaw, Marini, & Mattern, 2012). For example, students who earned scores of three or higher on their AP English language and AP Literature exams have been shown to have higher average college GPAs in their first semester than students who earned lower scores (Scott et al., 2010). ...
Academic underpreparedness is an issue for many first-time-in-college students, particularly those entering community colleges. Whereas many underprepared students enroll in developmental education, research has indicated that traditional remediation may not increase students’ chances for success. Therefore, states and colleges have begun to implement new course placement strategies to increase the accuracy of initial course placement and new instructional approaches to better serve their developmental students. Specifically, in 2013, the state of Florida passed Senate Bill 1720 which redesigned developmental coursework and placement policies across the Florida College System. The reform lifted developmental education placement exam testing and course enrollment requirements for certain exempt students, irrespective of prior academic preparation or achievement. The current study focuses on these exempt students—those who had the option to bypass developmental education—who were also underprepared, and their initial course selection and subsequent success in their gateway (introductory college-level) English course. Using statewide student-level data and logistic regression techniques, the results indicated that level of preparation was related to students’ course enrollment and gateway English course success. Students slightly underprepared in reading or writing were more likely than severely underprepared students to enroll in the gateway English class, relative to a developmental reading or writing course. In reading and writing, slightly underprepared students were more likely to pass English, relative to severely underprepared students. The authors consider the findings in light of recent national changes to developmental education and offer recommendations for policy and practice.
Purpose
Alternative credentials are rapidly evolving. The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and opportunities arising from this evolution with particular reference to their role in education and employment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores the credential initiatives with a unique perspective from introducing alternative credential initiatives that have been influential in recent national policy developments. The paper is led by the experiences of the former General Manager of Microsoft's Education Products Group, former Vice-Chancellor of The Open University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. His experiences and lessons learnt reflecting on alternative credential development during the last 30 years provides a unique insight in seeing the “signals” and moving beyond the “noise” of micro-credentials for successful integration into educational institutions.
Findings
A number of key findings are identified in terms of current development challenges that impact on alternative credential use and identifying further developments. Relevant examples and references are provided throughout, with a particular focus on North America, Europe and Australasia where the most progress has been made in alternative credentials.
Research limitations/implications
Implications for those wishing to develop badging and microcredentialing solutions, especially in higher education, are identified for all seeking to maximise the success of alternative credential systems.
Originality/value
Martin Bean has a unique perspective having explored credential initiatives whilst General Manager of Microsoft's Education Products Group and whilst Vice-Chancellor of The Open University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. Martin Bean has also been influential in recent national policy developments in Australia. Martin Bean’s experiences and lessons learnt witnessing alternative credential development during the last 30 years across three continents, and within both public and private sectors, are summarised here to provide context for discussions of some of the key global concepts and related work.
The purpose of this study is to better understand how high school students perceive and deal with the academic pressure that comes with taking advanced classes. 102 advanced students from three different private high schools in Kuwait responded to an anonymous survey. As part of the study's second phase, eight students were interviewed regarding the causes and consequences of academic pressure on their mental health difficulties. The results show that 90% of advanced students believe that these classes are more stressful than regular classes. Also, 80% of AP students claim that the overall academic stress of taking multiple AP subjects results in mental health problems. Student I stated, "One of my primary sources of stress is unquestionably school, with all that goes on there, from examinations and grades to friends and social interactions" (Interview, 2-23-23). The survey and interview findings made it very evident how advanced students constantly experience academic pressure, which affects their health and leads to depression, anxiety, and sleep deprivation.
Some researchers have questioned whether there is a causal connection between Advanced Placement (AP) STEM coursetaking and the choice of a STEM college major and a STEM occupation. Their research findings strongly suggest that if prior interest in STEM as well as other possible confounders are taken into account, the relationships of taking AP mathematics to expecting to be in a STEM major and/or a STEM occupation are small to nonexistent. Results from the current study, which uses data from a national longitudinal sample—actual measures of who majors in STEM—and prior interest in STEM along with other possible confounders, indicate that taking AP mathematics and AP science courses is significantly related to majoring in STEM and/or expecting to be in a STEM occupation at age 30—the sole exception being the taking of AP statistics.
Early college programs allow high school students to go beyond the advanced courses that the high school offers. Much of the literature on this topic focuses on small sample sizes, theories, or qualitative evidence; quantitative evidence of such a relationship is lacking. This study will examine the relationship between early college programs and academic performance, as well as graduation and retention rates and provide quantitative evidence of such relationships. The study uses survey data collected from two public universities in the state of Michigan. The results suggest that dual enrollment participation has a significant and positive effect on students’ college grade point average (GPA). Based on our results, dual enrollment participation is beneficial to students and should be encouraged. Because of the quantitative nature of the data, policy makers can use it to make informed decisions about early college programs and how these programs may benefit their students and institutions. (JEL codes: A1, I21, and I29)
A common rationale for offering online courses in K-12 schools is that they allow students to take courses not offered at their schools; however, there has been little research on how online courses are used to expand curricular options when operating at scale. We assess the extent to which students and schools use online courses for this purpose by analyzing statewide, student-course level data from high school students in Florida, which has the largest virtual sector in the nation. We introduce a “novel course” framework to address this question. We define a virtual course as “novel” if it is only available to a student virtually, not face-to-face through their own home high school. We find that 7% of high school students in 2013–14 enrolled in novel online courses. Novel courses were more commonly used by higher-achieving students, in rural schools, and in schools with relatively few Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate offerings.
Background/Context
Each year, large shares of students who could do well in Advanced Placement courses and exams—known as AP potential students—do not participate, particularly students of color and low-income students. There are a number of prevailing reasons, both structural (schools do not offer the courses, or teachers do not accurately identify students) and as well as student- centered (lack of motivation, conflicts with other activities, or lack of self-efficacy).
Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study
This study seeks to empirically test these common reasons for foregoing AP participation with the following research questions: How are student and school characteristics related to the probabilities of students attending a high school that offers a corresponding course, enrolling in the course, and taking the exam? To what extent are explanations such as students’ constraints on time, lack of motivation, or lack of self-efficacy related to the probability of AP course- and exam-taking, net of student- and school-level measures? How well do AP potential estimates align with teacher recommendations into advanced coursework? We focused on differences across race and class throughout.
Research Design
We define AP potential as a 60% percent probability or better of receiving at least a 3 on an AP exam in either math or English. Using a nationally representative sample of sophomores in 2002 whom we identified as having AP potential, we answered the first research question with a sequential logit. We then used postestimation commands in Stata to examine motivation, hours working, hours in extracurricular activities, and measures of English and math self-efficacy to address the second research question. For the third research question, we modeled the probability of student misidentification—or the probability that the teacher of a student with AP potential will not identify them for honors or AP courses—using a logit.
Conclusions/Recommendations
We found that large shares of students did not fulfill their AP potential, which varied by student background and subject area. We did not find support for many of the student-centered reasons for forgoing AP, such as lack of motivation and constraints on time due to work or extra-curricular activities. We did find, however, that teacher identification and academic self-efficacy mattered to AP course- and exam-taking, especially for marginalized students, suggesting viable policy and practice levers to improve equitable AP participation. We discuss implications for policy, practice, and research.
The U.S. economy requires a highly educated workforce, yet too few black, Latino, and low-income students attend, persist, and graduate from college. The present study examines the college outcomes of participants in a model Advanced Placement ® (AP) intervention to shed light on its effectiveness and determine whether improving AP participation and performance is a promising strategy for closing persistent racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in college outcomes. Findings suggest the college outcomes of program participants are better than those of similar students statewide while also highlighting variation within and across subgroups. At the same time, they confirm that AP participation and performance predict college outcomes and suggest that improving AP participation and performance among low-income white, black, and Latino students could be a useful strategy for closing persistent racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in college outcomes.
This study identifies students’ academic trajectories in the middle grades relative to a set of college readiness benchmarks. We apply math and reading college readiness benchmarks to rich longitudinal data for more than 360,000 students across the nation. Student-level and school-level demographic characteristics significantly predict academic trajectories. Compared to White and Asian students, higher proportions of Black and Hispanic student are always off-track throughout middle school. Among students who started 6th grade on track, being male, Black, Hispanic, and attending schools with a higher percentage of low-income students are positively associated with falling off track.
Advanced placement (AP) and concurrent enrollment (CE) provide high school students with rigorous coursework and possible college credit. Theoretical modeling predicted students would substitute CE for AP courses conditional on their probability of earning university credit, passing AP tests, and college selectivity despite CE costing more than AP. In the current study, CE costs to families drop to zero and students should be expected to maximize substitution. This study uses multiple years of school-level data from Colorado, a state with a growing CE sector to test substitution effects. Using a school fixed-effect Poisson regression of the most commonly taken AP exams, results indicate limited evidence of widespread substitution. The continued preference for AP may increase costs to families and reduce potential college credits.
This article documents the patterns of White-Black and White-Hispanic enrollment gaps in Advanced Placement (AP) and Dual Enrollment (DE) programs across thousands of school districts in the United States by merging several data sources. We show that the vast majority of districts have racial enrollment gaps in both programs, with wider gaps in AP than DE. Results from fractional regression models indicate that geographic variations in these gaps can be explained by both local and state factors. We also find that district-level resources and state policies that provide greater access to AP and DE are also associated with wider racial enrollment gaps, implying that greater resources may engender racial disparity without adequate efforts to provide equitable access and support for minority students.
We employ an empirical approach designed to control for selection issues to estimate the effect of taking Advanced Placement (AP) Economics in high school on student performance on a high-stakes, statewide End-of-Course Test (EOCT). Using data on all Georgia students who took economics from 2006 to 2008, we use propensity score matching to control for the selection of students into AP Economics. Our most conservative estimate makes an adjustment for teacher effects and suggests that students who take high school economics in an AP class score 0.283 standard deviations higher on the economics EOCT than “matched” students who are in high schools that do not offer AP Economics. We find large differences in “AP effects” across subpopulations—in particular, students from low income backgrounds, African Americans, and students who performed poorly in prior mathematics courses benefit the most from AP Economics. All estimates of AP effects are substantially below OLS estimates, suggesting positive selection into AP Economics. The results are robust to different matching techniques for the full sample and all large and medium sized subpopulations. After controlling for teacher effects, the choice of schools as to whether or not to offer AP Economics does not appear to impact estimates of AP effects.
The Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act is a law in the Philippines that provides college students with free tuition and other fees in Philippine state universities and local universities. People's tax is used to finance this law and the government should ensure that student retention or persistence is attained throughout the duration of their stay. To effectively decrease student dropout, it is necessary to understand which students are at risk of dropping out. In addition, this study proposed a model that detects and predicts student success in tertiary education through the right selection of the suitable program utilizing the enrollment data that may have a significant on the study outcome of the students. This study experimented single classifier and added ensemble approach classifiers to propose a predictive model to detect early dropout of first-year college students. The study utilized tree algorithms and then applied the ensemble algorithm to identify student attributes that distinguish potential dropouts from college. The result reveals a very interesting prediction that if their average grade is less than 85, there is a high tendency of dropping any program they enrolled in. Evaluation results in the final stage of the model construction process reveal that applying bagging ensemble into j-48 tree attained the highest accuracy as matched with other tree algorithms, however, forest tree algorithm achieved the highest value in terms of dropout precision and graduated recall. The result also shows that applying ensemble approaches have a marginal increase in classification performance.
The advanced placement program (AP) in the United States and Canada has been successful in helping students to gain College credits during the last year of high school. Credits are awarded to high school graduates according to their performance on the AP exam. The content and philosophy of such program is applied to high school graduates in Mexico. During the first year of this work, a group of students was trained through Physics courses with the AP content and principles. The students took the AP exam on Physics before the course, and their scores were slightly improved after the course. The statistical significance of their improvement could not be stablished for this group of students. During the second year of this research, another group of students was exposed to AP content and aided through online assignments, previously designed in Open-EdX with LON-CAPA. The assignments were migrated to the platform Canvas during the last semester of this research. Students were tested through a conceptual exam on force and motion, which has the same spirit as the AP exam, but with a lower level of difficulty. Finally, students are found to improve significantly their performance through the strategy implemented during the second year of this research.
Using rich administrative data from North Carolina and school-course fixed effects models, this study explores whether the availability of same-race instructors in advanced-track sections of courses affects Black high school students’ enrollment in, and performance in, advanced-track courses. The availability of at least one Black instructor at the advanced level is associated with a 2 percentage point increase in the uptake of advanced courses for Black students. However, conditional on enrollment in the advanced track, Black students are no more likely to pass advanced-track courses when taught by Black teachers. Positive effects on enrollment are driven by enrollment shifts for higher achieving students. Additional analyses showing benefits to non-Black students suggest that the main channels are not race-specific role model effects.
Hispanic students participate in advanced programming at a much lower rate than their White peers. Although Advanced Placement (AP) can have a positive impact on future academic success and attainment of long-term goals, limited research has investigated factors that contribute to AP success for gifted Hispanic students. This study examined factors potentially predictive of success on AP exams for gifted Hispanic students. Contrary to prior literature, findings revealed that race/ethnicity was not a factor that significantly affected AP success for these gifted students. In addition, when examining the performance of all the Hispanic AP students, the only factor that significantly contributed to passing an AP exam was identification as gifted. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.
This article examines how access to advanced placement (AP) courses impacts college attendance plans of high school seniors. When the majority of previous research has focused on linking AP courses to university success metrics such as graduation and retention rates, the query here is on whether taking relatively more and varied AP courses inspires students to aim for more prestigious universities. The policy implications impact prioritization of AP course access. The current debate is whether to offer AP core curricula classes only at the junior and senior level or whether to make AP course options available in variety of subjects as early as Grade 9. Needless to stay, the second policy option is much more expensive and also harder for many schools to achieve due to a national shortage of teachers capable of teaching varied AP courses. The results of this article suggest that this option is worth the investment. Analyzing student record level data for 7 high schools from 2011 to 2017, we estimate that each AP course taken increased the probability that a student would aim for admission into a prestigious 4-year university by an average of 50%. We also find evidence that this dynamic was particularly true for economically disadvantaged students, offering a hopeful tone for future education equity research.
Millions of high school students take Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which can provide college credit. Using nationally representative data, I identify a diverse set of higher education outcomes that are related to receipt of AP college credit. Institution fixed effects regression reduces bias associated with varying AP credit policies and student sorting across higher education. Results indicate college credits earned in high school are related to reduced time to degree, double majoring, and more advanced coursework. Bounding exercises suggest the time to degree and double major outcomes are not likely driven by bias from unobserved student characteristics. Policies used to support earning college credits while in high school appear to enhance undergraduate education and may accelerate time to degree.
Recruiting top talent into accounting careers is essential to the continued prosperity of the profession, and the AICPA Pathways Commission has speculated that an advanced placement accounting course could increase recruitment of quality students into accounting programs of study. Although the College Board does not currently offer an accounting course for advanced placement credit, research outside of accounting does suggest that advanced placement students, in general, may represent a high-quality pool for recruitment into college accounting programs. The current study explores this possibility by examining relationships between students' advanced placement engagement and success and their subsequent performance on the CPA exam. Data provided by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) for 1005 CPA exam takers, along with additional survey information, shows that high school students who engaged in advanced placement courses and passed related exams experienced relatively greater success on the CPA exam compared to students who did not take or pass AP courses. Additional analyses using Bloom's Taxonomy, suggest that certain advanced placement courses, those that focus on higher-order thinking skills, have the highest correspondence with CPA exam success. The current research is the first in the accounting literature to provide empirical evidence showing advanced placement to be an important factor when recruiting high school students into college accounting programs.
This article is aimed at identifying the push and the pull factors that influence the decision of Ethiopian higher education faculty members who have studied in Norway not to go back to Ethiopia. To collect data on these issues in depth interviews were conducted. It was found out that the major push factor is economy followed by politics, human right violation, academic freedom, governance, and advancement in science and technology. It was concluded that human capital flight is expected to perpetuate, and Ethiopia can not control the pull factors that attract its skilled and knowledgeable citizens. It is less likely for Ethiopia to be a winner in purchasing best brains from the competitive brain market, but it seem possible to introduce modest benefit packages that retain its HE faculty members. The corner stone of academic values could be put in place if the government respects what it claims in its various policy documents
Objective: In recent years, developmental education (DE) reform has led to a restructuring of the placement process, redesigning of course instructional modalities, or implementing student support services to supplement developmental coursework. In Florida, recent legislative changes allowed students to opt out of placement testing and enroll directly in college-level courses regardless of academic ability. The purpose of this study is to understand how students’ high school transcript information can be used in the academic advising process when students are no longer required to take standardized placement tests. Method: We used a combination of high school courses from statewide student-level data and conducted logistic regression analyses to understand how these courses help predict success in English Composition 1 and Intermediate Algebra. We also developed student profiles and presented predicted probabilities to illustrate how students with different combinations of high school coursework were predicted to pass their courses. Results: The results indicated that, generally, when students enrolled in introductory college-level courses, those with higher levels of high school preparation were predicted to pass at higher rates. However, even students whose coursework designated them as college-ready had predicted passing rates of 69.5% in English and 47.6% in Intermediate Algebra. Contributions: We recommend that college academic advisors use high school coursework, in addition to other factors, when advising students into courses and that advisors support students’ success by referring them to appropriate support services. We call for additional research to further understand how high school coursework can be used for flexible placement policies.
This paper examines the effect of a state mandate to offer Advanced Placement (AP) programs at all public high schools on student outcomes. Requiring compliance with this policy could lead to unintended consequences as schools shift resources or students are re-sorted. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, I investigate a 2004 state-wide mandate to offer AP programs in Arkansas and its impact on students’ schooling outcomes. Results suggest schools decrease the share of courses dedicated to career and technical education in favor of AP courses. Additionally, enrollment decreases by about 60 students on average, the 4-year graduation rate increases by 2.5 percentage points, and there are generally fewer students scoring in the highest category on two end-of-course exams at schools required to comply with the mandate. Taken together, these results suggest the policy may have at least partially affected the sorting of students across schools.
We explore the effects of a statewide policy change that increased the number of high school math courses required for admission to four-year public universities in North Carolina. Using data on cohorts of eighth-grade students from 1999 to 2006, we exploit variation by district over time in the math course-taking environment encountered by students. Purely as a result of a student's year of birth and location, students faced different probabilities of encountering a sequence of math courses sufficient to qualify for admission. Within an instrumental variables setup, we examine effects of this policy shift. We find that students took more math courses in high school following the state's announcement, with relatively larger increases for students in the middle and bottom quintiles of their eighth-grade math test scores. Our results suggest this increased math course-taking led to higher high school graduation rates. It also led to increases in enrollment rates at universities in the University of North Carolina system, with the largest increases being in the quintiles of student achievement from which universities were already drawing the bulk of their enrollees. Finally, we find scant evidence of boosts in post-enrollment college performance due to increased math course-taking in high school.
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This study sought to perform a global assessment of the performance of students in the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) Program compared to non-AP students on a number of college outcome measures. Ten AP Exams and six aggregated AP subject areas were examined in this two-phase study of students in four entering classes (1998-2001) at the University of Texas at Austin. The college outcome measures included first-year credit hours and GPA, subject or subject area credit hours and GPA, overall college credit hours and GPA, and sequent course grade. Results showed that for each of the ten individual AP Exam subjects, AP students who earned credit by exam consistently outperformed non-AP students of similar academic ability in all college outcome measures. For five of the six aggregated AP subject areas, AP students also consistently outperformed the non-AP students of similar academic ability in all college outcome measures. In addition, the average AP Exam grade a student attains in an AP subject area was found to be a good indicator of his or her future performance in college, especially in the particular subject area. These study findings provided support that the rapid expansion of the AP Program in recent years has not diminished the validity of AP Exam grades to predict college success.
This study explores the relationship between college graduation rates and student participation and success in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and exams. We reviewed three approaches to examining this relationship: 1) comparing the college graduation rates of AP and non-AP students; 2) comparing the college graduation rate of AP and non-AP students after controlling for students' demographics and prior achievement and the demographics of their high schools; and 3) examining the relationship between percent of students from a given high school graduating from college, and the school's percent of students in Advanced Placement. We conclude that the percent of a school's students who take and pass AP exams is the best AP-related indicator of whether the school is preparing increasing percentages of its students to graduate from college. The importance of AP exam results indicates the need for schools and districts to pay close attention not only to the quality of teaching in Advanced Placement courses but also to improving the academic preparation of students prior to their enrollment in those courses.
Long-standing critiques of large “factory model” high schools and growing evidence for the benefits of small schools, especially for the achievement of low-income and minority students, have stimulated initiatives in many cities to redesign secondary education. This seven-year study of the Coalition Campus Schools Project in New York City documented a unique “birthing” process for new, small schools that were created as part of a network of reform-oriented schools in a context of systemwide reform. The study found that five new schools that were created to replace a failing comprehensive high school produced, as a group, substantially better attendance, lower incident rates, better performance on reading and writing assessments, higher graduation rates, and higher college-going rates than the previous school, despite serving a more educationally disadvantaged population of students. The schools shared a number of design features, detailed in this study, that appeared to contribute to these outcomes. The study also describes successful system-level efforts to leverage these innovations and continuing policy dilemmas influencing the long-term fate of reforms.
This is a review of the Advanced Placement (AP) Program. In disagreement with claims of the College Board, there is firm evidence that the average test performance level has dropped. The College Board's scale and claims for AP qualification disagree seriously with college standards. A majority of tests taken do not qualify. It appears that "advanced placement" is coming closer to "placement." This article recommends that the College Board's policy of concentrating on numbers of participants should be changed to an emphasis on student performance and program quality.
This study examines the role of Advanced Placement (AP) and other honors-level courses as a criterion for admission at a leading public university, the University of California, and finds that the number of AP and honors courses taken in high school bears little or no relationship to students’ later performance in college. AP is increasingly emphasized as a factor in admissions, particularly at selective colleges and universities. But while student performance on AP examinations is strongly related to college performance, merely taking AP or other honors-level courses in high school is not a valid indicator of the likelihood that students will perform well in college. These findings suggest that institutions may need to reconsider the use of AP as a criterion in “high stakes†admissions, particularly given the marked disparity in access to AP and honors courses among disadvantaged and underrepresented minority students.
An earlier study examined the impact of family income and financial aid on the enrollment decisions of accepted applicants at a single institution of higher learning. A companion analysis was undertaken here to analyze the effect these financial factors had on students' persistence at the same institution during the comparable time period. Surprisingly, financial aid did not have a significant impact on freshmen persistence. However, students from families with greater incomes tended to persist. Academic performance was the overwhelmingly most significant factor affecting a freshmen's decision to continue into the sophomore year, as poor performing students tended to drop out.
A five-scale instrument developed from a theoretical model of college attrition correctly identified the persistence/voluntary withdrawal decisions of 78.5 percent of a sample of freshmen in a large, residential university. Particularly important discriminators of freshman year persisters and voluntary dropouts were scales assessing the quality of relationships with faculty.
The report summarizes undergraduate admissions policies, practices, and procedures at two- and four-year colleges and universities as of 1992. Information was drawn from a national survey, the third of a series conducted since 1979. A total of 2,024 institutions responded to the survey. An introductory chapter describes the surveys, their methodology, and some summary results. Subsequent chapters detail findings concerning: selectivity in admissions (general admissions practices, selectivity categories, overall acceptance rates, rates for different student subgroups, and acceptance in relationship application rates); general admission procedures for two- and four-year institutions (locus of responsibility, policies and requirements, two-year degree candidacy criteria, and new or alternative approaches to admissions); policies, practices, and procedures specific to four-year institutions (academic requirements and exceptions, admissions tests, importance of various factors in admissions decisions, role of personal qualities, trends in academic qualifications); first-time and other enrollment rates at different institution types; and recruitment, marketing, and financial aid (recruitment practices, two-year transfer policies and practices, market research, enrollment planning, relationship between financial aid and recruitment/admissions decisions, cost and college choice, no-need aid awards, acceptance and yield rates, freshman financial needs). Appended materials include the survey questionnaires for two- and four-year institutions, the cover letter, and notes on methodology. (Contains 40 references.) (MSE)
Issues related to schooling attainment of children from low-income families arise frequently in current education policy debates. There has been a specific interest in understanding why a very high percentage of children from low-income families do not graduate from college and why the college graduation rates of children from low-income families are substantially lower than those of children from other families. Using unique new data obtained directly from a high-quality liberal arts college that maintains a full tuition subsidy program (and large room and board subsidies) for all students, this paper provides direct evidence that reasons unrelated to the direct costs of college are very important in explaining these realities.
The Review of Higher Education - Volume 21, Number 2, Winter 1998
The paper analyzes the Grade Point Average (GPA) of more than 5,000 undergraduates at the University of California, San Diego. Personal background strongly affects GPA. Graduates of different high schools obtain significantly different GPAs, even after controlling for personal background. These school effects in part reflect the incidence of poverty and the level of education among adults in the school neighborhood. Teachers' experience in the student's high school bears a positive and significant link to the student's university GPA, but the effect is small. No such positive link with GPA emerged for the teacher-pupil ratio or teachers' level of education.
Reinventing High School: Outcomes of the Coalition Campus Schools Project An Investigation of the Validity of AP Grades of 3 and a Comparison of AP and Non-AP Student Groups
- Darling
- L Hammond
- J Ancess
- S W Ort
- B G Dodd
- S J Fitzpatrick
- De Ayala
Darling-Hammond, L., Ancess, J., and Ort, S.W. (2002) Reinventing High School: Outcomes of the Coalition Campus Schools Project. American Educational Research Journal, 39(3): 639-673. r21 Dodd, B.G., Fitzpatrick, S.J, De Ayala, R.J., and Jennings, J.A. (2002). An Investigation of the Validity of AP Grades of 3 and a Comparison of AP and Non-AP Student Groups. College Board Research Report No 2002-9
Advanced Placement exam scores as a predictor of performance in introductory college biology, chemistry, and physics courses
- Sadler Philip M.
Advanced placement participation: Evaluating the policies of states and colleges
- Klopfenstein Kristin Andm.Kathleen
- Thomas
UTSA Continues Leading in Degrees to Hispanics
- Rodriguez Kris
Odd math for ‘Best High Schools’ list
- Winerip Michael
Advanced Placement Report to the Nation
- Collegeboard
Orange juice or orange drink? Ensuring that “advanced courses” live up to their labels
- Dougherty Chrys Lynnmellor Andshulingjian
Federal and state support for AP
- Collegeboard
“Advanced Placement.”
- Dounay Jennifer
AP students in college: An investigation of their course-taking patterns and college majors
- Morgan Rick
Math matters: The links between high school curriculum, college graduation, and earnings
- Heather Rose
- Julian R. Betts
Accelerated learning options: Moving the needle on access and success
- Colleen O. Sathre
- Cheryl D. Blanco