Context for the 4 th Annual Advanced Placement Report to the Nation February 13, 2008

2 Theme 1: National and State AP Score Results See pages 4-6 of the Report A wider segment of high school graduates are both taking college-level AP courses and succeeding on the end-of-course AP Exam. 2002: 11.7% of high school graduates had taken an AP Exam and score 3 or better 2007: 15.2% of high school graduates had taken an AP Exam and scored

3 Theme 2: Equity Gaps See pages 7-10 of the Report

4 High school graduation is not the same as “college ready” Approximately 70% of all students in public high schools graduate, but only 32% of all students leave high school qualified to attend four-year colleges. College readiness by ethnic group: African American 20% American Indian14% Asian American 38% Hispanic 16% White 37% Source: Public High School Graduation and College Readiness Rates in the United States, 9/03, Funded: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Jay P. Greene, Ph.D.; Greg Forster, Ph.D., Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. College ready defined by: -- 4 years of English -- 3 years of math -- 2 years of natural science -- 2 years of social science -- 2 years of a world language -- NAEP Reading score of 265

5 Percentage of First- and Second-Year Students Who Have Taken a Remedial Course Since High School Graduation by Type of Institution, Note: “Remedial course” is defined as a developmental course intended to improve basic skills in English, mathematics, reading, study skills, or writing. Sources: NPSAS: 2004 Undergraduates; College Board: Trends in College Pricing, 2006; NCES 2004a. Colleges are being required to deliver significant numbers of incoming freshmen with remedial, rather than college-level, courses Students earning a bachelor's degree within 8 years, 2004 Leading predictor of whether a student will dropout Estimated cost to the taxpayers is $1 billion

6 Average Time to Degree Exceeds 5 Years for Both Public and Private Institutions Source: Wayne J. Camara, “College Persistence, Graduation, and Remediation,” College Board Research Notes RN-19, March Average years to complete a Bachelor’s degree by institution, 2000

7 Source: Chrys Dougherty, Lynn Mellor, and Shuling Jian, The Relationship Between Advanced Placement and College Graduation (National Center for Educational Accountability, 2006) Students scoring 3+ on AP Exams are much more likely than their peers to earn a bachelor’s degree in 5 years or less Student Demographic AP Exam Grade of 3 or higher African-American21% higher Hispanic27% higher White19% higher Low-Income32% higher Not Low-Income23% higher College Graduation Rate differences between AP and non-AP students Within each ethnic group, AP students were matched to comparable non-AP students. Control variables include: 8 th grade mathematics test score; free/reduced price lunch status; and average test scores and percent of economically disadvantaged students in the student’s school.

8 Colleges and universities that pre-tested AP Exams in 2007 Baylor University Brigham Young Univ Duke Univ Grinnell College Harvard Univ Michigan State Univ Middlebury College Princeton Univ Purdue Univ Smith College Stanford Univ Tufts Univ UCLA UC-Berkeley Univ of Colorado-Boulder Univ of Maryland-College Park UNC-Chapel Hill Univ of Pennsylvania USC Univ of Virginia Univ of Washington Univ of Wisconsin-Madison Washington Univ Yale Univ

9 Sources: Keng, Lesilie and Barbara G. Dodd, “An Investigation of College Performance of AP and Non-AP Student Groups,” University of Texas at Austin, In press Research: Keng and Dodd (U of Texas-Austin) AP English students’ grades after being placed ahead

10 Source: OECD, PISA 2006 database U.S. Students Fall Behind in International Comparisons and Raise Concerns for U.S. Competitiveness In 2006, U.S. ranked 35 out of 57 countries in mathematics Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) U.S. source for internationally comparative information on math and science literacy of students in the upper grades Age 15 Assesses math and scientific literacy in terms of mastery of school curriculum, and important knowledge and skills needed for life In 2006, more than 400,000 students from 57 countries making up close to 90% of the world economy took part in PISA 2006

11 Source: OECD, PISA 2006 database U.S. Students Fall Behind in International Comparisons and Raise Concerns for U.S. Competitiveness In 2006, U.S. ranked 29 out of 57 countries in science Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) U.S. source for internationally comparative information on math and science literacy of students in the upper grades Age 15 Assesses math and scientific literacy in terms of mastery of school curriculum, and important knowledge and skills needed for life In 2006, more than 400,000 students from 57 countries making up close to 90% of the world economy took part in PISA 2006

12 AP Student Performance in Math Source: Gonzalez, E., O’Connor, K., & Miles, J. (2000). How well do Advanced Placement students perform on the TIMSS Advanced Mathematics and Physics Tests? Chestnut Hill, MA: The International Study Center, Lynch School of Education, Boston College.

13 AP Student Performance in Physics Source: Gonzalez, E., O’Connor, K., & Miles, J. (2000). How well do Advanced Placement students perform on the TIMSS Advanced Mathematics and Physics Tests? Chestnut Hill, MA: The International Study Center, Lynch School of Education, Boston College.

14 While the current quality of AP courses, in aggregate, remains very high, providing high school students with a head start on college in the more familiar environment of a high school classroom, 39% of AP teachers are due for retirement across the next five years. Accordingly, to sustain, let alone expand, the current level of advanced academic attainment in U.S. high schools, there will need to be a major focus on professional development for new AP teachers.

15 Who participated in the AP Course Audit? The AP community responded in large numbers to the inaugural, worldwide review of AP courses. More than 146,000 syllabi were submitted for review—representing courses at over 14,000 secondary schools worldwide.

16 Who evaluated the syllabi? ► Nearly 850 college professors have served as Reviewers and Senior Reviewers ► For all 37 AP subjects, each Reviewer teaches the college course equivalent to AP ► Reviewers undergo training and qualifying experiences before beginning ‘live’ evaluations

17 Results Syllabi submitted: 146,671 Syllabi approved on first review: 98,833 (67%) Syllabi approved after further work between the college faculty and AP teacher: 38,020 Total number of syllabi approved:136,853 (93%) Summary: 67% of all syllabi were authorized on first review. For all others, teachers acted on feedback from college professors/reviewers to revise the syllabus to more clearly express the essential elements of the parallel college course. The AP Course Audit was an essential first step toward assessing the needs of the next generation of AP teachers. Now that new teachers’ syllabi are aligned with best practices at colleges and universities, we’ll be able to use AP Exam results to focus professional development on areas where new AP teachers need additional support.

18 67% of AP teachers --- and 81% of new AP teachers --- think the audit provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on their course Total Responses = 26,023 The audit provided a valuable and useful opportunity to reflect on my course 67% agree/strongly agree 81% of first-year AP teachers felt the audit provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on their course

19 AP Course Audit: Other Impacts 18,200 teachers used the audit to acquire more current textbooks 22,100 teachers indicated that they had not been aware of major changes to the AP curriculum until they did the audit 18,000 teachers used the audit to acquire greater lab time or instructional time

20 First-year AP teachers, on average, reported that the audit provided them with significant value When you think about your overall impression of the AP Course Audit's value to you as an AP teacher, on a 1 to 10 scale where 10 is "essential" and 1 is "not valuable at all", how would you rate the AP Audit's overall value to you?

21 Nearly one in five AP teachers felt that the Audit alerted them to changes in the AP course or exam that they hadn’t yet incorporated into their course The audit alerted me to changes in the AP course or exam that I hadn't yet incorporated into my course Sample Size = 25,982 18% strongly agree/agree

22 The audit gave me leverage to obtain higher quality textbooks Sample Size = 25,875 25% strongly agree/agree One quarter of first-year AP teachers reported that the audit gave them leverage to obtain higher quality textbooks

23 1/3 of first-year AP teachers reported that the audit helped them obtain funds to return to colleges and universities for summer professional development The audit gave me leverage to obtain funds to attend AP Summer Institutes or other AP-related professional development overall Sample Size (1 st Year AP Teachers) = 2,101 32%

24 84% of AP teachers believe that consistency in core learning objectives across courses labeled AP is important... Consistency in core learning objectives across courses labeled "AP" is not important Sample Size = 25,975 80% of art and music AP teachers, and 87% of AP math teachers believe that consistency in core learning objectives is important. 84% disagree/strongly disagree

25... and less than 10% of AP teachers find that the course audit requirements lack the breadth and flexibility to permit a wide variety of approaches to teaching the course. The AP Course Audit curricular requirements are broad and flexible enough to permit a wide variety of approaches to teaching an AP course 79% agree/strongly agree 71% of AP teachers of GoPo and Economics felt that the requirements were broad and flexible enough to permit a wide variety of approaches. Sample Size = 25,995