The College Board's Advanced Placement courses are often the pride of secondary schools, but students' success in them is a function of the teachers' qualifications. (Author/MSE)

Discussed is the value of using essays and other popular writings as supplemental material for advanced placement biology courses. Their value as motivators and as views of the everyday work of scientists is stressed. (CW)

Assessment reforms might fail because high stakes will be attached to them too soon, judgments will be unreliable, and lawsuits will occur. Educators need to consider technical issues including score reliability, task validity, portfolio sampling, and generalizability problems. U.S. schools would improve considerably if national Advanced Placement…

A high school teacher at an inner-city school characterized by a multiethnic student population discusses his Advanced Placement (AP) European History course, an option in the school's PACE (Program for Additional Curricular Activities) program. Teaching strategies leading to the students' high performances on the AP exam are identified. (DB)

Argues that students lack an understanding of how research is done. Proposes a science exercise that provides authentic research experience for ninth-grade students in an advanced-placement chemistry class. (CCM)

This longitudinal cohort study followed students admitted to Saint Louis University (Missouri) with and without credits from either the university's dual credit program for high school students or the Advanced Placement Testing Program. Analysis indicated both programs significantly influenced students' ability to persist and graduate but did not…

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…

Distressed with their district's lackluster performance on Advanced Placement (AP) exams, staff at Oklahoma City Schools reviewed the program and decided the curriculum was not challenging or motivating enough for students. They then developed and implemented a vastly improved AP program initiative that provided teacher incentives, staff…

Introduces a project incorporating creative writing and advanced placement chemistry. Uses texts and laboratory experiments for the basis of the writing assignments. (YDS)

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)

For over a decade, the authors have been involved in a design theory experiment providing software for high school students preparing for the descriptive question on the Advanced Placement (AP) chemistry examination. Since 1997, the software has been available as a Web site offering repeatable practice. This study describes a 4-year project during…

This article examines the issue of fostering vocational knowledge from an international perspective. It is based on the belief that 21 st-century students would benefit from a study of human endeavour that has an intercultural foundation. It identifies the aspects of knowledge that may be seen to comprise vocational knowledge and uses one…

School-within-a-school programs are an alternative school choice that can provide differentiated learning opportunities for academically gifted students, but they are often politically contentious. In a recent study, we interviewed 530 students and teachers in gifted and regular streams in three publicly funded secondary schools with different…

The authors conduct open-ended surveys of 530 students and teachers in three publicly funded schools with different approaches to providing a high-ability "school-within-a-school:" a gifted program, an international baccalaureate program, and a high-ability program with a science focus. Overall, the authors find that teachers and students in all…

The standards movement arrived in the mid-1980s and new curriculum frameworks of instruction were crafted for the reform of science and mathematics curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for teachers. Today, the clarion warning calls about science and mathematics education, the fading STEM (science, technology,…