Is There an Advanced Placement Advantage

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines potential advantages that exist for schools and for students through the offering of Advanced Placement courses. Current research was reviewed and information was synthesized in the areas of.' Effects of AP courses on students, AP implications for college admission, AP economic implications, and Concerns about AP programs. Results indicated that advantages exist for students and for schools participating in the AP program that go beyond college admissions factors and that, despite concerns, the numbers of schools and students participating in this program are increasing dramatically. Confronted with increasing academic accountability and decreasing financial resources, the feasibility of offering Advance Placement (AP) courses is under scrutiny by school systems across the country. The purpose of this article is to examine whether or not there is an advantage for students and schools participating in the AP program. HISTORY OF THE AP PROGRAM The AP Program began in the 1950s with two projects financed by the Fund for the Advancement of Education of the Ford Foundation. The first project undertaken by John Kemper, headmaster of Andover Academy, addressed the problem of academically able students repeating courses they had in high school during their introductory courses in college. A committee of college and high school teachers recommended that achievement examinations be set up in major subjects to enable students to obtain college credit while still in high school (Kreider, 1979). The second project, the Kenyon Plan, brought together high school teachers, university professors, and representatives from the Educational Testing Service, who developed high school course outlines, syllabi, and tests based on the outlines, which were first administered to students in 1954. In 1955, the College Board took over the program, and it became known as the Advanced Placement Program. The first examinations under the College Board took place in 1956. (Kreider). The driving ideas behind the program were that many high school students were capable of college-level work, and many high schools had the desire and resources to offer college level courses. The course syllabi and high course standards were the keys to the success of the program. They were meant to provide a framework for the course, a standard for achievement, a basis for testing, and a reference for colleges (Kreider). In 1955, 1229 students took AP exams and results were sent to a few dozen colleges (Alpern, 1984). In 2000, 845,000 students took AP exams in 19 subject areas (College Board, 2000 AP National Summary Report Tables). Over one-half of all U.S. high schools now offer AP courses (Lord, 2000). EFFECTS OF AP COURSES ON STUDENTS AP courses appear to affect even those students enrolled in regular courses. Some research has shown that students taking no AP classes, from high schools with extensive AP programs, did better in college than would normally have been predicted from their grades and test scores (Willingham and Morris, 1986). Others would say that while benefiting the advanced student, any type of grouping program such as AP is not beneficial to the school community as a whole, because general and lower ability groups do not benefit (Cocking, 1990; Gamoran, 1992). One study reports this disparity to be so great that after 10th grade the track or group a student was in during high school was actually was more important for achievement success than whether or not the student was even attending school (Gamoran). Cocking says in her research on groups, that it is undemocratic not to offer different educational opportunities to fit children's different needs. In her study involving 290 history students, she found that grouping inevitably benefited the higher level groups, and that they and their teachers were usually enthusiastic about ability grouping. She quotes Thomas Jefferson in saying: There is nothing more unequal than equal treatment of unequal people. …