Transcript Document

Context for the
4th Annual
Advanced Placement
Report to the Nation
February 13, 2008
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
2
Theme 2: Equity Gaps
See pages 7-10 of the Report
3
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 ready defined by:
College readiness by ethnic group:
-- 4 years of English
-- 3 years of math
African American
20%
-- 2 years of natural science
American Indian
14%
-- 2 years of social science
Asian American
38%
-- 2 years of a world
language
Hispanic
16%
White
37%
-- NAEP Reading score of
265
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.
4
Colleges are being required to deliver significant numbers of
incoming freshmen with remedial, rather than college-level, courses
Percentage of First- and Second-Year Students Who
Have Taken a Remedial Course Since High School
Graduation by Type of Institution, 2003-04
Students earning a bachelor's degree
within 8 years, 2004
70%
36%
All Institutions
58%
60%
Leading predictor of
whether a student
will dropout
50%
43%
2-Year Public
40%
30%
4-Year Public
29%
17%
20%
10%
24%
4-Year Private
0%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
No Remedial Courses
Remedial Reading
Estimated cost to the taxpayers is $1 billion
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.
5
Average Time to Degree Exceeds 5 Years for Both Public and
Private Institutions
Average years to complete a Bachelor’s degree by institution, 2000
7
6
6.2 years
5
5.3 years
4
3
2
Public 4-Year
Private 4-Year
Source: Wayne J. Camara, “College Persistence, Graduation, and Remediation,” College Board Research Notes RN-19, March 2003.
6
Students scoring 3+ on AP Exams are much more likely than their peers to earn a
bachelor’s degree in 5 years or less
College Graduation Rate differences between AP and non-AP students
Student Demographic
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.
AP 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
Source: Chrys Dougherty, Lynn Mellor, and Shuling Jian, The Relationship Between Advanced Placement and College Graduation (National Center for Educational
Accountability, 2006)
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Colleges and universities that pre-tested AP Exams in 2007
• Baylor University
• UCLA
• Brigham Young Univ
• UC-Berkeley
• Duke Univ
• Univ of Colorado-Boulder
• Grinnell College
• Univ of Maryland-College Park
• Harvard Univ
• UNC-Chapel Hill
• Michigan State Univ
• Univ of Pennsylvania
• Middlebury College
• USC
• Princeton Univ
• Univ of Virginia
• Purdue Univ
• Univ of Washington
• Smith College
• Univ of Wisconsin-Madison
• Stanford Univ
• Washington Univ
• Tufts Univ
• Yale Univ
8
2007 Research: Keng and Dodd (U of Texas-Austin)
AP English students’ grades after being placed ahead
Sources: 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.
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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
Source: OECD, PISA 2006 database
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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
Source: OECD, PISA 2006 database
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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.
13
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:
Syllabi approved on first review:
146,671
98,833 (67%)
Syllabi approved after further work
between the college faculty and AP teacher:
Total number of syllabi approved:
38,020
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.
17
67% of AP teachers --- and 81% of new AP teachers --- think the audit
provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on their course
The audit provided a valuable and useful opportunity to reflect on my course
50%
46%
45%
40%
35%
67% agree/strongly agree
30%
25%
21%
20%
17%
15%
11%
81% of first-year AP teachers felt the
audit provided a valuable
opportunity to reflect on their
course
10%
5%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree
Total Responses = 26,023
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
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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
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?
25%
24%
20%
18%
16%
15%
1st-year AP teachers
11%
10%
9%
9%
5
6
5%
5%
3%
2%
2%
1-Not
valuable at
all
2
0%
3
4
7
8
9
10 Essential
20
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
45%
The audit alerted me to changes in the AP course or exam that I
hadn't yet incorporated into my course
41%
40%
35%
30%
25%
21%
20%
20%
15%
15%
18% strongly
agree/agree
10%
5%
3%
0%
Strongly agree
Sample Size = 25,982
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree
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One quarter of first-year AP teachers reported that the audit gave them
leverage to obtain higher quality textbooks
The audit gave me leverage to obtain higher quality textbooks
45%
40%
40%
35%
33%
30%
30%
29%
29%
25%
25%
23%
20%
19%
25% strongly
agree/agree
17%
15%
14%
11%
10%
5%
8%
8%
9%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree
All AP teachers
Sample Size = 25,875
Agree
1st-year AP teachers
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
AP teachers in schools with >50% of students qualifying for f/r lunch
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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
35%
31%
Sample Size (1st Year AP
Teachers) = 2,101
30%
25%
24%
24%
20%
32%
15%
overall
10%
12%
8%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
% of 1st-year AP teachers
Strongly Disagree
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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
84% disagree/strongly
disagree
60%
49%
50%
40%
35%
80% of art and music AP teachers, and 87%
of AP math teachers believe that
consistency in core learning objectives is
important.
30%
20%
10%
10%
4%
2%
0%
Strongly agree
Sample Size = 25,975
Agree
Neutral
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.
The AP Course Audit curricular requirements are broad and flexible enough to
permit a wide variety of approaches to teaching an AP course
Strongly agree
21%
79% agree/strongly agree
Agree
58%
Neutral
12%
7%
Disagree
Strongly disagree
2%
0%
Sample Size = 25,995
71% of AP teachers of GoPo
and Economics felt that the
requirements were broad
and flexible enough to
permit a wide variety of
approaches.
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
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