Performance of Project Advance Students on the AP Biology Examination

Abstract

Syracuse University Project Advance, established in 1973, offers an opportunity for talented high school students to enroll in college courses for degree credit while still in high school. The courses, identical in every important respect to those taught to students on the Syracuse University campus-same syllabus, textbooks, assignments, examinations, and grading criteria-are taught by carefully selected high school faculty members whose credentials have been reviewed and approved by faculty committees from the appropriate Syracuse University departments. To qualify to teach a University course, high school faculty members must have extensive teaching experience and credentials in the content area and attend a special summer workshop (usually five to eight days in length) conducted by the Syracuse University faculty member responsible for the course on the main campus. Upon successful completion of the workshop, teachers are appointed adjunct instructors of Syracuse University. To retain the appointment, teachers must teach the Syracuse course at least once every two years and attend an inservice seminar in the subject area sponsored by Syracuse University each fall and spring. Once implemented, the courses are carefully monitored by the Syracuse University faculty and Project Advance administrative staff, cooperating with the high school teacher to ensure that standards in the high school sections of the course are comparable to those for the same course taught on campus. At least once each semester Syracuse University faculty members and Project Advance administrative staff visit each class, checking papers, laboratory manuals, and other products of instruction for consistency of academic standards; talk with the teacher and with the students about the program; and discuss community response and the overall administration of the program with high school administrators. In addition to inservice seminars and site visits, frequent contact is maintained with the high school. Over the past eleven years, nearly 500 colleges and universities have recognized Syracuse University courses completed through Project Advance by awarding degree credit and/or exemption from enrolling in a similar course. Some of these have awarded credit and/or exemption only after reviewing a portfolio of tests and instructional materials, while still others have reserved awards until the student has completed an advanced college course successfully at their institution. A small number of schools also offer the possibility of degree credit if the student can attain an acceptable grade on a proficiency examination administered by the appropriate academic department. A few colleges, on the other hand, have adopted a blanket policy that college-level courses completed in a high school setting will not be recognized for credit. The one possible exception to this policy is the Advanced Placement Program (AP) of the College Entrance Examination Board. Largely because it is a standardized measure of academic achievement, some college officials look primarily to the AP Examination in considering degree credit for college courses taken in high school.