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Advanced Placement Program (AP ):Validity Research and Recommendationsfor Providing Credit and/or Placement

College Board’s Mission and Purpose The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whosemission is to connect students to college success andopportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 5,600schools, colleges, universities and other educationalorganizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students andtheir parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,800 colleges throughmajor programs and services in college admissions, guidance,assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. The College Board is committed to the principles of excellenceand equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs,services, activities and concerns.Source: http://www.collegeboard.com/about/index.html

AP MissionThe College Board’s Advanced PlacementProgram (AP ) enables students to pursuecollege-level studies while still in high school.Through more than 30 college-level courses,each culminating in a rigorous exam, APprovides willing and academically preparedstudents with the opportunity to earn collegecredit and/or advanced placement.

AP Overview Started in 1955 Rigorous college-level courses taught in highschools around the world Exam grades utilized for college credit and/orplacement Over 30 Advanced Placement exams in over 20subject areas World Languages expansion: Chinese and Japanese(2007)

Introduction to AP In 2008, students representing over 17,000 schools around the world, bothpublic and nonpublic, took AP Exams Enables students to pursue college-level studies while still in high school More than 30 college-level courses, each culminating in a rigorous exam Provides willing and academically prepared students with the opportunity toearn college credit and/or advanced placement Demonstrates to college admissions officers that students have sought out themost rigorous curriculum available to them Each AP teacher’s syllabus is evaluated and approved by college faculty fromsome of the nation’s leading institutions Exams developed and scored by college faculty and experienced AP teachers Accepted by more than 3,600 colleges and universities worldwide for collegecredit, advanced placement, or both on the basis of successful AP Exam gradesSource: http://www.collegeboard.com/html/aprtn/?excmpid CBF13-ED-1-aprtn

AP Courses Arts Art History, Music Theory, Studio Art(drawing, 2-D, 3-D)Mathematics and Computer Science English Language and Composition, Literatureand Composition Sciences History and Social Sciences Calculus AB, Calculus BC, ComputerScience A, *Computer Science AB,StatisticsBiology, Chemistry, EnvironmentalScience, Physics B, Physics C: Electricityand Magnetism, Physics C: MechanicsComparative Government and Politics, World LanguagesEuropean History, Human Geography,Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Chinese Language and Culture, FrenchPsychology, United States GovernmentLanguage, *French Literature, Germanand Politics, United States History,Language, **Italian Language and Culture,World HistoryJapanese Language and Culture, *LatinLiterature, Latin: Vergil, SpanishLanguage, Spanish Literature* indicates courses that have been discontinued beginning in the 2009-2010 academic year** indicates course has been suspended beginning in the 2009-2010 academic yearSource: es/teachers corner/index.html

Who Participates in AP? 17,000 secondary schools worldwide offer APExams More than 122,000 AP teachers in nearly 15,000schools worldwide are authorized to teach APcourses In 2008, over 1.5 million students took about 2.7million exams 5,000 college faculty develop and score the APExams ensuring college-level standards 3,600 colleges receive AP Exam gradesannuallySource: http://www.collegeboard.com/html/aprtn/?excmpid CBF13-ED-1-aprtn

Faculty Involvement College faculty are involved in AP Course and Examdevelopment. Currently, faculty: Serve as Chairs and members of all AP Development Committees thatdevelop all AP course descriptions and exams Pre-test AP Exams by embedding them within exams offered in thecollege classroom Score the free-response sections of AP Exams by attending the APReading every June Are responsible for standard setting and are involved in the evaluation ofstudent responses at the AP Reading; the Chief Reader for each APsubject is a college faculty member Lead professional development workshops for new and experienced APteachers Serve as the senior reviewers in the annual AP Course Audit, ensuring APteachers’ syllabi meet the curriculum guidelines of college-level coursesSource: acement/ap/involved

What are College Faculty Saying aboutthe AP Experience?“We often observe a discernible differencebetween students without any AP experience, whotypically only devote a few hours to homeworkeach week, and AP students who have developedthe time management skills and the discipline todo the type of time consuming intellectual work(studying) that is required to be successful incollege.”Spencer A. BensonDirector Center for Teaching ExcellenceAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Cell Biology and Molecular GeneticsUniversity of Maryland, College Park

What do AP Exam Grades Represent?Each AP Exam grade is a weighted combination of thestudent's score on the multiple-choice section and on thefree-response section. The final grade is reported on a 5point scale:5 extremely well qualified4 well qualified3 qualified2 possibly qualified1 no recommendation AP grades of 5 and 4 are comparable to a college course grade ofA, while at some institutions, an AP grade of 4 is comparable to acollege course grade of B An AP grade of 3 is approximately equal to a college course gradeof B at many institutions, while at others it is more nearlycomparable to a college course grade of C.Source: acement/ap/exam/grades

College Comparability StudiesCollege comparability studies are used toset AP grades in order to ensure that theAP standards are comparable to or higherthan the grading standards that are appliedby college professors when evaluating theperformance of their own students incorresponding college courses.Source: es/11584.html

Comparability Study ParticipationFaculty at the following institutions have participated incomparability studies in recent years: Baylor University UCLA Brigham Young University UC-Berkeley Duke University University of Colorado-Boulder Grinnell College University of Maryland-College Park Harvard University UNC-Chapel Hill Michigan State University University of Pennsylvania Middlebury College University of Southern California Princeton University University of Virginia Purdue University University of Washington Smith College University of Wisconsin-Madison Stanford University Washington University in St. Louis Tufts University Yale University

Key Benefits of AP AP courses establish a college-level standard in secondary schoolsthat is measured through a national assessment designed and scoredby college faculty. AP courses expose college-bound students to the amounts ofhomework, study skills, and habits of mind essential for success incollege courses. AP provides leverage for aligning and strengthening the grades 6-12curriculum. Students who take AP Exams and score a 3 or higher typicallyexperience greater academic success and college graduation ratesthan non-AP students. The AP course is typically the most rigorous curriculum offered insecondary schools and is designated on the student transcript. Because AP is widely used for college credit and/or placement, itattracts motivated students eager to double major, or engage indeeper, upper-division courses at college.

Growth in Exam Grades of 3 and Higher AmongUnderrepresented Students: 2004-2008Source: SDRS 2004-2008*Percentages listed represent growth from 2004-2008

Equity and Excellence: Students Scoring3 or higher on AP Exams by StateSource: AP Report to the Nation 2009

AP Report to the Nation: How Does OhioCompare?Class of 2008 – Ohio 122,456*- HS studentsClass of 2008 – Nation 3.03million* - HS students 21,502- 757,932 17.6% 25.0% 10.8% 15.2%# of HS studentswho took an AP examtook an AP examwhile in HSearned a score of 3or higher*Public school numbers (Source: WICHE, 2008)- # of HS studentswho took an AP examtook an AP examwhile in HSearned a score of 3or higher

AP Research

TIMSS Advanced Mathematics andPhysics TestsEugenio J. Gonzalez, Kathleen M. O'Connor, & Julie A. Miles (2001) Gonzalez et al showed that students enrolled in AP Calculus coursesearned the highest average scores on the TIMSS AdvancedMathematics tests, significantly outperforming students in all othercountries, including U.S. students who did not take AP Calculus. Students enrolled in AP Physics also performed well, scoringsignificantly above the international average on the TIMSS Physicstest; whereas U.S. students not taking AP scored significantly belowthe international average. It's also important to note that AP studentswho earned AP Exam grades of 3 or better on the AP Calculus Examsor the AP Physics Exams earned even higher scores on the TIMSSassessments compared to students who took the AP course but notnecessarily the exam.Source: Gonzalez, E., O’Connor, K., & Miles, J. (2000). How well do Advanced Placement students perform on theTIMSS Advanced Mathematics and Physics Tests? Chestnut Hill, MA: The International Study Center, Lynch School ofEducation, Boston College.

AP Student Performance in Physics While the U.S. lags behind industrialized countries that participate in theTIMSS test, AP physics students who earned exam grades of 3 or higheroutscore all other students. Students who earned a 1 or 2 on AP Physics Exams outscored students inmore than half of participating industrialized countriesSource: Gonzalez, E., O’Connor, K., & Miles, J. (2000). How well do Advanced Placement students perform on theTIMSS Advanced Mathematics and Physics Tests? Chestnut Hill, MA: The International Study Center, Lynch School ofEducation, Boston College.

AP Student Performance in Math While the U.S. lags behind nearly every industrializedcountry that participates in the TIMSS test, AP calculusstudents, regardless of exam grade, outscored all otherstudentsSource: Gonzalez, E., O’Connor, K., & Miles, J. (2000). How well do Advanced Placement students perform on theTIMSS Advanced Mathematics and Physics Tests? Chestnut Hill, MA: The International Study Center, Lynch School ofEducation, Boston College.

Morgan and Klaric*: College SuccessAmong AP and Non-AP Students Nationwide 2007 study that built on similar studyfrom 1998 Collected official student transcript data fromnumerous colleges and universities Compared sequent course grades of AP studentsand non-AP students Examined trends in course-taking Looked at underrepresented students majoring inscience, technology, engineering, andmathematics (STEM)*The 2007 study conducted by Morgan and Klaric was a follow up to a 1998 study by Morgan and Ramist.

Morgan and Klaric: ParticipatingColleges* Barnard College Texas A&M University Binghamton University University of California – Davis** Brigham Young University** University of California – Los Angeles Carnegie Mellon University** University of Florida College of William and Mary** University of Illinois – Urbana** Cornell University** University of Iowa Dartmouth College University of Maryland George Washington University University of Miami Georgia Institute of Technology University of Southern California Miami University (Ohio) University of Texas at Austin** North Carolina State University University of Washington Northwestern University Wesleyan College Stanford University** Williams College*Institutions listed are those that participated in the 2007 study**Indicates institutions that participated in both the 1998 and 2007 studies