Context for the4th Annual

Advanced Placement Report to the Nation

February 13, 2008

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Theme 1: National and State AP Score ResultsSee pages 4-6 of the ReportA 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 GapsSee pages 7-10 of the Report

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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 Indian 14%

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

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Percentage of First- and Second-Year Students Who Have Taken a Remedial Course Since High School

Graduation by Type of Institution, 2003-04

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.

58%

17%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

No Remedial Courses Remedial Reading

Colleges are being required to deliver significant numbers of incoming freshmen with remedial, rather than college-level, courses

24%

29%

43%

36%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

4-Year Private

4-Year Public

2-Year Public

All Institutions

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

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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 2003.

6.2 years

5.3 years

2

3

4

5

6

7

Public 4-Year Private 4-Year

Average years to complete a Bachelor’s degree by institution, 2000

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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 DemographicAP Exam Grade of 3

or higher

African-American 21% higher

Hispanic 27% higher

White 19% higher

Low-Income 32% higher

Not Low-Income 23% 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: 8th grade mathematics test score; free/reduced price lunch status; and average test scores and percent of economically disadvantaged students in the student’s school.

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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

9Sources: Keng, Lesilie and Barbara G. Dodd, “An Investigation of College Performance of AP and Non-AP Student Groups,” University of Texas at Austin, 2007. In press.

2007 Research: Keng and Dodd (U of Texas-Austin)AP English students’ grades after being placed ahead

AP English Language and Composition - Sequent Course Grade

Class Years 2001 - 2005

3

3.05

3.1

3.15

3.2

3.25

3.3

3.35

3.4

AP Credit Non-AP

Student Group

Sequent Course Grade

10Source: OECD, PISA 2006 database

U.S. Students Fall Behind in International Comparisonsand 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

11Source: OECD, PISA 2006 database

U.S. Students Fall Behind in International Comparisonsand 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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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67% of AP teachers --- and 81% of new AP teachers --- think the audit provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on their course

21%

46%

17%

11%

5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

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

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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

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First-year AP teachers, on average, reported that the audit provided them with significant value

2% 2%

5%

3%

9% 9%

18%

24%

11%

16%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

1-Notvaluable at

all

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -Essential

1st-year AP teachers

 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?

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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

3%

15%

21%

41%

20%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

 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

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 The audit gave me leverage to obtain higher quality textbooks

Sample Size = 25,875

5%

9%

29%

33%

25%

8%

17%

40%

23%

11%

8%

14%

30% 29%

19%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

All AP teachers 1st-year AP teachers AP teachers in schools with >50% of students qualifying for f/r lunch

25% strongly agree/agree

One quarter of first-year AP teachers reported that the audit gave them leverage to obtain higher quality textbooks

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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

8%

24%

31%

24%

12%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

% of 1st-year AP teachers

overall

Sample Size (1st Year AP Teachers) = 2,101

32%

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84% of AP teachers believe that consistency in core learning objectives across courses labeled AP is important . . .

2%4%

10%

49%

35%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

 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

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. . . 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.

2%

7%

12%

58%

21%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly agree

 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