Advanced Placement Exam Research Articles

Advanced Placement Human Geography Exam Participation and Performance in Texas School Districts

Texas is the state with the largest number of students taking the Advanced Placement (AP) Human Geography exam. State policy allows schools to offer AP Human Geography in ninth grade as a substitute for the on-level World Geography Studies course. AP’s growth in Texas has been driven by state policy that financially incentivizes students, teachers, and schools to participate in the program. This article examines changes in the geographic distribution of AP Human Geography course offerings and exam results in school districts across the state. Using data provided by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), AP Human Geography exam participation rates and scores were mapped for the period from 2014 to 2019. The results show the number of districts with low rates of qualifying scores has increased in each participation category with fifty-seven additional low-qualifying districts in 2019 compared to 2014. Racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps exist in many schools, calling into question the inequitable impacts of the state’s AP incentives and the practice of using AP Human Geography as a warmup AP course. Texas school districts should improve the preparation of students for advanced course work. Researchers can further explore district-level AP participation and performance through case studies and other methods.

Book Review: Abrams, A. (2023). Shortchanged. How Advanced Placement Cheats Students. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

A much-needed thorough analysis of the validity of the powerful cultural and institutional role of the Advanced Placement exams is clarified right from the start: “Much of today’s discussion about the decline of the liberal arts centers on the undergraduate experience: tracking applications to liberal arts colleges and enrollments in majors, navigating the relationship between humanities and STEM requirements.” (pp. 3-4) This is how Annie Abrams begins her highly engaging and argumentative presentation of a contemporary issue regarding the mission of the Advanced Placement (AP) programs. With a quick self-assessment of her experience as a college instructor, the author recalls that “teaching writing was social,” which also relates beautifully to basic values embedded in student writing: “Clarity, innovation, investment, and enthusiasm all contributed to an essay quality.” (p. 4)

Do STEM Students Vote?12

Pundits, politicians, and academics have long worried about potentially low rates of civic participation among STEM-oriented students. Does studying STEM actually decrease the odds that young people will be actively involved in democracy? To answer this question, we created a dataset of over 23 million students in the United States, matched to national validated voting records. This novel dataset is the largest known individual-level dataset in the United States, connecting high school and college students to voting outcomes. It also contains a rich set of demographic and academic variables, to account for many of the common issues related to students’ selection into STEM coursework. We consider two measures of STEM participation: Advanced Placement (AP) exam taking in high school and college major. Using both measures, we find that, across model specifications, the estimated relationships between STEM and voting are small in magnitude—about the same effect size as a single get-out-the-vote mailer. Our analyses demonstrate that, on average, marginally more STEM coursework in high school and college does not contribute noticeably to the low voting rates among young people in the United States.

The Discipline of Handwriting Quality and Essay Scoring

In the United States, many high school students take various Advanced Placement (AP) courses offered by the non-profit organization, Collegeboard. Specifically, AP English Language and AP English and Literature requires students to write three essays on the day of exam. These essays allow students to demonstrate their penmanship and quality of handwriting. However, it is unknown whether the quality of penmanship plays a role in essay scoring. Very few research has been done on this discipline, specifically handwriting and intelligence. To fill this research gap, this paper will explore and attempt to demonstrate an understanding of the potential correlation between the illegible ratio of handwriting to the overall essay rubric score. 68 samples were taken from CollegeBoard and analyzed through a content analysis with a mathematical equation, the ILR equation. The data was further analyzed with a Line of Best Fit, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, and P-value. The results showed that there were no clear significant differences between neat and messy handwriting and how well it scored on the AP exam. However, the overall length of the essay and its word counts had a strong positive correlation with the essay score. Due to various limitations of this research study, further research must be conducted and tailored to this study to find a clearer understanding of this phenomenon. Nevertheless, this research can serve as the basis and foundation for later studies in this field.

Twenty Years of Advanced Placement Human Geography: A Program Assessment

This Focus section of The Professional Geographer contains four articles that were prepared for a program assessment of Advanced Placement (AP) Human Geography. Using twenty years of AP program data, the authors probe into the participation of students in the course and how they fared on the exam. AP exam data were analyzed at the national, state, and district-level scales as well as for students differentiated by grade level, race, ethnicity, and gender. The Focus section concludes with a commentary that mulls the private and public values of a geography course in the AP program. This introduction presents the rationale for the program assessment, a summary of the key findings, and a call for geographers to improve the effectiveness of AP Human Geography while supporting research–practice partnerships, dual enrollment programs, and other locally conceived and tailored alternatives to corporate authority, prescriptive curriculum, and standardization in public education. An ongoing assessment of AP Human Geography is recommended as part of a broader discipline-based effort to strengthen and secure the status of geography in U.S. education.

Advanced Placement Human Geography: Program Access and Effectiveness by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender, 2001–2020

Advanced Placement (AP) is a program initially developed by the College Board to engage “superior” high school students with rigorous college-equivalent coursework. Because the AP program has the potential to facilitate the college placement and success of diverse youth, the College Board has made equitable AP access a core objective. This article reports the results of an assessment conducted to gain a better understanding of the number and characteristics of students who have participated in AP Human Geography and how they fared on the exam. Although AP Human Geography enrollments have grown more diverse since the program’s launch in 2001, unequal access to the course remains a challenge. Unequal outcomes on AP Human Geography exams are also evident when comparing mean scores and qualifying scores by race, ethnicity, and gender. The effectiveness of AP Human Geography for youth of color is compromised by the inordinate number of exams taken in ninth grade, a point in schooling characterized by widespread and embedded geography achievement disadvantages and unequal educational opportunities. Ensuring the equitable preparation of students for advanced geography coursework and fostering racial and gender equity in the curriculum are among the reforms recommended to reduce inequality in AP exam scores.

How Inclusive, Diverse, and Equitable Is Advanced Placement Human Geography? A Comparison of Participation and Performance by Ethnicity and Race

The Advanced Placement (AP) Human Geography course offers a geographic perspective for students to study differences, dynamics, and disparities in society and the globalized world. This article seeks to relate this thematic diversity to the profile, participation, and performance of the exam takers in comparison to other subjects, with a special emphasis on race and ethnicity. The online database on AP exams released annually by the College Board served as a starting point to analyze data on exam scores by subject and ethnic group. The results point out that participation and scores are improving for ethnic minority groups, especially for Black students, but their achievements remain below the average grades and the performance by those of other ethnicities. It is suggested that measures and policies beyond participation and effectiveness and with a focus on equity are necessary to overcome structural inequalities in teaching and learning. AP Human Geography should not only be conceived as a diverse discipline, but also as a critical and inclusive social science to support ethnic minority students and other marginalized groups to be successful in their education.

Advanced Placement and Initial College Enrollment: Evidence from an Experiment

Abstract To evaluate how Advanced Placement (AP) courses affect college-going, we randomly assigned the offer of enrollment into an AP science course to over 1,800 students in twenty-three schools that had not previously offered the course. We find no AP course effects on students’ college entrance exam scores (SAT/ACT). As expected, AP course-takers are substantially more likely to take the AP exam than their control group counterparts. At the same time, treatment group students opt out of the exam at very high rates and most do not earn a passing score on the AP exam. Though less precisely estimated, the results also suggest that taking the AP course increases students’ aspirations to attend higher-quality colleges but does not lead to enrollment in such institutions.

The Effects of Delivering Personalized Course Recommendations at Scale on Advanced Placement Participation and Performance

Abstract Gaps in advanced high school coursework by socioeconomic status and geography persist in the United States, even among students with the ability and access to succeed in them. Lack of information on course availability and inaccurate self-perceptions may contribute to these inequities. We report on a large-scale experiment designed to increase Advanced Placement (AP) participation among underrepresented minority students and students attending rural high schools. Students and parents assigned to treatment received personalized outreach via multiple communication channels about AP classes offered at their high school in which they demonstrated potential to succeed. Outreach increased the probability of AP Exam participation in subjects in which students demonstrated potential to succeed by 1.1 percentage points, a 2.5 percent increase over the control group rate. This, in turn, increased the probability that students scored 3 or higher on those AP Exams by 0.5 percentage point, a 1.4 percent increase over the control group rate. Intervention effects were concentrated among underrepresented minority students attending nonrural schools and relatively less academically prepared students. The findings indicate that personalized course recommendations can increase equity in advanced high school course participation; however, designing outreach campaigns at scale that engage students is a crucial challenge to their efficacy.

Disruptiveness of COVID-19: Differences in Course Engagement, Self-Appraisal, and Learning.

We investigated how the transition to remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic affected students' engagement, self-appraisals, and learning in advanced placement (AP) Statistics courses. Participants included 681 (Mage=16.7 years, SDage=.90; %female=55.4) students enrolled in the course during 2017-2018 (N=266), 2018-2019 (N=200), and the pandemic-affected 2019-2020 (N=215) school years. Students enrolled during the pandemic-affected year reported a greater improvement in affective engagement but a decrease in cognitive engagement in the spring semester relative to a previous year. Females enrolled in the pandemic-affected year experienced a greater negative change in affective and behavioral engagement. Students enrolled during the pandemic-affected year reported a greater decrease in their anticipated AP exam scores and received lower scores on a practice exam aligned with the AP exam compared to a prior year. Although students were resilient in some respects, their self-appraisal and learning appear to have been negatively affected by pandemic circumstances.

Prediction of differential performance between advanced placement exam scores and class grades using machine learning

IntroductionPast studies have found students to perform differently between class grades and standardized test scores – two essential and complementary measures of student achievement. This study examines predictors of the relative performance between these two measures in the context of the advanced placement (AP) program, namely, we compared students’ AP exam scores to the class grade they received in the corresponding AP course. For example, if a student received a high AP class grade but a low AP exam score, what characteristics about the student or their learning context might explain such discrepancy?MethodsWe used machine learning, specifically random forests, and model interpretation methods on data collected from 381 high school students enrolled in an AP Statistics course in the 2017–2018 academic year, and additionally replicated our analyses on a separate cohort of 422 AP Statistics students from the 2018–2019 academic year.ResultsBoth analyses highlighted students’ school and behavioral engagement as predictors of differential performance between AP class grades and AP exam scores.DiscussionAssociations between behavioral engagement and differential performance suggest that the ways in which a student interacts with AP course material to obtain high class grades can differ from study habits that lead to optimal performance on the AP exam. Additionally, school-level differences in relative performance pose equity concerns towards the use of AP exam scores in high-stakes decisions, such as college admissions. Implications are discussed from a pedagogical and policy perspective.

The Impact of Project-Based Learning on AP Exam Performance

Harnessing a cluster randomized controlled trial, we estimated the impact on students’ advanced placement (AP) examination performance of a project-based learning (PBL) approach to AP compared with a lecture-based AP approach. Through PBL, teachers primarily play a facilitator role, while students work on complex tasks organized around central questions leading to a final product. We estimated positive and significant treatment effects on AP exam performance for the overall sample, within both AP courses studied, and within low- and high-income student groups. Results support teacher-driven adoption of the PBL AP approach within both courses studied, among districts with open-enrollment AP policies and supportive of PBL, for students from low- and high-income households.

It’s Good to Be Popular in High School: A Look at Disparities in STEM AP Offerings in Northern California Public High Schools

In 2018, in response to the proposed elimination of physics at a predominately Hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) high school, the Northern California/Nevada chapter of the AAPT investigated school demographics and their effect on physics offerings in public high schools in our region. As access was a key issue, the focus was on public, non-charter high schools, which are free to students and do not require winning a lottery for attendance. As reported previously, the data revealed that the percentage of Hispanic students and the percentage of SED students at a high school are highly correlated (r2=0.60). Additionally, these factors could be used as predictors of a school’s physics offerings. To determine if the disparities in course offerings extended through other Advanced Placement (AP) STEM classes, the data were further analyzed, revealing that as the popularity of an AP exam drops, so do the relative odds of it being offered, when comparing schools with different demographics. A Northern California public high school student is much more likely to get a strong selection of AP STEM classes if his/her school serves an affluent, non-Hispanic student majority rather than mostly poor, Hispanic students.

Are high school students accurate in predicting their AP exam scores?: Examining inaccuracy and overconfidence of students’ predictions

ABSTRACT We examined whether students were accurate in predicting their test performance in both low-stakes and high-stakes testing contexts. The sample comprised U.S. high school students enrolled in an advanced placement (AP) statistics course during the 2017–2018 academic year (N = 209; Mage = 16.6 years). We found that even two months before taking the AP exam, a high stakes summative assessment, students were moderately accurate in predicting their actual scores (κweighted = .62). When the same variables were entered into models predicting inaccuracy and overconfidence bias, results did not provide evidence that age, gender, parental education, number of mathematics classes previously taken, or course engagement accounted for variation in accuracy. Overconfidence bias differed between students enrolled at different schools. Results indicated that students’ predictions of performance were positively associated with performance in both low- and high-stakes testing contexts. The findings shed light on ways to leverage students’ self-assessment for learning.

A new item response theory model for rater centrality using a hierarchical rater model approach.

Rater centrality, in which raters overuse middle scores for rating, is a common rater error which can affect test scores and subsequent decisions. Past studies on rater errors have focused on rater severity and inconsistency, neglecting rater centrality. This study proposes a new model within the hierarchical rater model framework to explicitly specify and directly estimate rater centrality in addition to rater severity and inconsistency. Simulations were conducted using the freeware JAGS to evaluate the parameter recovery of the new model and the consequences of ignoring rater centrality. The results revealed that the model had good parameter recovery with small bias, low root mean square errors, and high test score reliability, especially when a fully crossed linking design was used. Ignoring centrality yielded poor item difficulty estimates, person ability estimates, rater errors estimates, and underestimated reliability. We also showcase how the new model can be used, using an empirical example involving English essays in the Advanced Placement exam.

College Comes to High School: Participation and Performance in Tennessee’s Innovative Wave of Dual-Credit Courses

We analyze the rollout of a Statewide Dual-Credit (SDC) program intended to expand access to college-level courses during high school. We find that SDC increased early postsecondary course-taking among students in the middle of the achievement distribution, especially through courses in vocational subjects, without decreasing participation in Advanced Placement (AP). However, SDC was mostly offered by schools already providing courses in similar subject areas and was less frequently offered in small relative to large schools, thus doing little to ameliorate placed-based gaps in course-taking opportunities. Furthermore, a majority of students failed the end-of-course exams necessary to secure college credit, and those who passed closely resemble students who pass AP exams. Low SDC exam pass rates predict school-level discontinuation of SDC courses over and above a range of other factors that reflect student demand and staffing capacity.

Will We Ever Close the Gender Gap Among Top Mathematics Achievers? Analysis of Recent Trends by Race in Advanced Placement (AP) Exams

Analyzing the test scores of more than 10,000,000 students who participated in the Advanced Placement (AP) math exams from 1997 to 2019, this study examined the direction and magnitude of the trend in gender disparity by race in participation in and top achievement on AP Calculus AB, Calculus BC, and Statistics exams. The results of this study indicated that, in general, females’ representation in all three AP exams increased significantly. Although the findings indicated that the female-to-male ratios (FMRs) in participation in the AP math exams increased significantly from 1997 to 2019 and favored females for all races, the gender disparities among top achievers for all math exams are still substantial. The relationships between the FMRs in participation and top achievement for all AP math exams were also analyzed within races, and the possible impacts of these findings within the context of the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields were also discussed.

Skin in the Game: A Policy Implementation Study of How School-Level Bureaucrats Set and Rationalize Advanced Placement Exam Fees for Low-Income Students.

As part of their strategies to increase college readiness and reduce educational inequalities, at least 29 states subsidize Advanced Placement (AP) exam fees for low-income students. However, while Michigan’s state-level policy subsidized low-income student exams to $5 per exam, we found wide-ranging fee structures at high schools—from $0 to $50. Through a lens of policy implementation theory and using an embedded case study approach, this study examined this disjuncture between the state and school policies using interview data from 33 school personnel—counselors, AP Coordinators, administrators—in 31 high schools and state personnel in Michigan; state policy artifacts; and publicly available school data. We identified three major challenges—many schools hedged and set higher fees because they were unsure how much the legislature would approve each year; the state subsidy did not account for additional exam costs (e.g., exam proctors) that were passed down to the student; and the policy as written lacked enforceability and accountability. Policymakers were largely unaware of the amount schools ultimately charged low-income students. In the presence of an ambiguous policy and constrained resources, school personnel relied on their personal perspectives on fees and behavior (e.g., the need to reduce moral hazard and increase “skin in the game”) to rationalize low-income students fees. Together, these findings help explain how low-income students pay vastly different AP exam fees depending on the high school they attend in Michigan—with some schools severely impeding low-income students’ college preparatory opportunities.

College Credit on the Table? Advanced Placement Course and Exam Taking

Millions of high school students who take an Advanced Placement (AP) course in one of over 30 subjects can earn college credit by performing well on the corresponding AP exam. Using data from four metro-Atlanta public school districts, we find that 15 percent of students’ AP courses do not result in an AP exam. We predict that up to 32 percent of the AP courses that do not result in an AP exam would result in a score of 3 or higher, which generally commands college credit at colleges and universities across the United States. Next, we examine disparities in AP exam-taking rates by demographics and course taking patterns. Most immediately policy relevant, we find evidence consistent with the positive impact of school district exam subsidies on AP exam-taking rates. In fact, students on free and reduced-price lunch (FRL) in the districts that provide a higher subsidy to FRL students than non-FRL students are more likely to take an AP exam than their non-FRL counterparts, after controlling for demographic and academic covariates.

Should Students with AP Credit Repeat Coursework in College? A Multilevel Analysis

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.