Provides a model for the early admission and advanced placement of students in postsecondary-sequenced vocational-technical programs; this model provides significant benefits to the students and to the institutions. (SK)

Discusses changing concepts of important topics in teaching history--away from a "political/diplomatic" approach to a "social history" approach that includes broader topics, such as urbanization, shifts in social structures and classes, and crime and resistance. Shows evidence of this shift in content requirements, tests of Advanced-Placement…

Describes how veteran teacher Joan Vinson has made Advanced Placement (AP) a "cool thing to do" for minority students. With the help of private funding and a Texas-size enthusiasm, she is also convincing more teachers to take on the AP challenge, with a focus on quality over quantity. (EV)

"Smoothing the Path" describes successful state-level strategies and policy lessons that have been learned in four states during the development of schools that integrate secondary and postsecondary education. Statewide efforts in the multi-year Early College High School Initiative, which began in Ohio and Utah in 2002 and in Texas and…

In Spring 1967, the "Leadership Group of High School Teachers of Economics" in Orange County, California, expressed interest in developing an Advanced Placement Program (APP) in Economics. They were concerned that students from the stronger secondary school economics programs would find introductory college economics repetitive. This…

Describes the Advanced Placement U.S. history program which allows students to earn college credit by taking a standardized test while still in high school. Reviews procedures for selection of multiple choice questions on this test from 1960-1984. States that multiple choice type questions on this test have changed since 1960, but not…

Two students describe their experience in an advanced placement (AP) American history course. (JDH)

The College Board's Options for Excellence program in San Antonio is described. The Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test is used to identify the "sleepers," students who have not previously demonstrated their concern or aptitude for tough academic courses. (MLW)

Two supplementary calculus classes for high school students are described. Both classes were projects sponsored by the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) of Johns Hopkins University. (MP)

Encourages music teachers to work with students interested in advanced placement (AP) music courses. Discusses the logistics and advantages of placing students in these courses. Describes the Advanced Placement Listening and Literature and the Advanced Placement Theory courses and examinations. Outlines the examination scoring method and looks at…

Given only correlation coefficient, one cannot infer causality. This lesson has been lost on Secretary of Education Richard Riley, who recently intoned that "taking rigorous mathematics courses ... early in secondary schools is a gateway to college and future employment." Students taking such classes have probably already been identified…

Discussion of Advanced Placement (AP) programs as a talent development option for gifted high school students focuses on their rationale as an example of differentiated curriculum, benefits of advanced placement for these students, important issues in talent development such as quality instruction and models/mentors, special problems of AP…

Describes how 35 teachers worked to create the Learning Collaborative, a technologically based resource for advanced placement teachers around the world, including a website to offer variety of resources. (SR)

The International Baccalaureate (IB) program, based on a set of exams prepared in Geneva, Switzerland, was originally designed as a standard curriculum by which students from all over the world could meet graduation requirements in their own countries. IB students may receive up to one year's credit in American Colleges. (MLW)

This issue of Northwest Education explores some of the ways that the region is changing territory: radically reengineering large comprehensive high schools into smaller, more personalized academies and learning communities; encouraging all students--not just an elite few--to take advanced placement and international baccalaureate courses; tying…