This study reports that student performance on the PSAT/NMSQT can be useful in identifying additional students who may be successful in Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses. PSAT/NMSQT scores can identify students who may not have been initially considered for an AP course through teacher nomination, self-nomination, or other local procedures.…

More than ever before, educators across the United States are enabling a wider and more ethnically diverse proportion of students to achieve success in AP[R]. Significant inequities, however, which jeopardize traditionally underserved students' chances at college success, remain. This "Report" uses a combination of state, national, and…

Presented at the Annual National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in New York in March 2008. This presentation explores how different item weighting can affect the effective weights, validity coefficents and test reliability of composite scores among test takers.

Advanced Placement brings into sharp focus the dilemma faced by middle, secondary and university teachers of American history. The search for an introductory synthesis stumbles more frequently these days because texts and curriculum frameworks all too often depend upon what Mary Fredrickson refers to as the tyranny of chronology. With extremely…

This brief describes the Academic Pathways to Access and Student Success (APASS) project, a research initiative that identifies and disseminates information about existing and emerging academic pathways that extend from high school to college. Drawing upon the results of a 50-state survey, an extensive review of literature and consultation with…

This article discusses commonalities that exist between two popular educational approaches that provide options for a wide range of student achievement levels, the Schoolwide Enrichment Model and the International Baccalaureate, especially the Primary Years Programme, in classroom practice. Introductions to the International Baccalaureate and…

Project Aspire was created to identify poor rural students with academic potential and to provide them with academic and counseling support in advanced placement courses and prerequisites. This article describes Project Aspire and its foundations; the relevant lessons learned from the literature on poverty, small schools, rural schools, and gifted…

In this article, the author discusses AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), a program that enrolls the students who are most frequently marginalized in rigorous classes to prepare them for postsecondary education. The best predictor of success or failure in postsecondary education is the intensity and quality of secondary school…

The early part of the 21st century sees the United States competing in an increasingly globalized, high-tech economy that highly prizes those individuals with quality mathematics and science educations, and bestows economic and other benefits on the nations and regions in which they live and work. Nations around the world--recognizing the…

The College-Level Examination Program® (CLEP®) consists of a battery of 34 tests covering courses in which entering college students often enroll. CLEP exams are tools that help accredited colleges and universities provide course requirement exemptions to students who have gained outside-the-classroom knowledge of certain subjects. Students may…

The College Board's Advanced Placement Program was founded in 1955 to provide high school students an opportunity to take on the challenges of college-level work while still in high school. For 46 years, students have enrolled in AP courses, taken rigorous end-of-course AP Examinations to demonstrate their achievement, and frequently have received…

Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center (AMEPAC) is a policy center of the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education. AMEPAC's mission is to stimulate, through studies, statewide discussion, and debate, constructive improvement of Arizona minority students' early awareness, access, and achievement throughout all sectors of…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Year of Math and Science?: Flurry of Congressional Hearings on Economic Competitiveness Focus on High Schools and…

As the fiftieth anniversary of the Advanced Placement Program[R] (AP[R]) in U.S. schools approaches, it is the right time to issue the first "Advanced Placement Report to the Nation." This report uses a combination of state, national, and AP Program data in new ways to provide each U.S. state with a context for celebrating its successes,…

Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) Examinations in Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, and Comparative Government and Politics were studied to examine college course performance and gender differences. It was concluded that students who had received college credit for AP performed as well or better in higher-level college courses in Macroeconomics and…