Using critical race theory as a framework, this article examines the access and availability of Advanced Placement (AP) courses and how they impact educational outcomes for Latina/o and African American students. To begin thinking critically about enrollment patterns of AP courses, we ask the following questions: How do school structures,…

Advanced Placement allows a student to apply credits he has acquired in high school to waive basic academic college requirements. It has broad appeal, and by 2003 a million American students were participating. William Casement argues that, despite its popularity, the decreasing selectivity of the program, the immaturity of the high school…

Greater opportunities exist now for meeting the needs of gifted and talented students than ever before. Even though the Internet is still in its infancy, the depth and breath of available information that it offers make it a versatile and extensive resource for developing talent. While individuals often view the Internet as a giant library, its…

In recent years, geomatics has had a tremendous effect on geographical education at the post-secondary level. Courses, departments and even entire colleges such as the College of Geographic Sciences in Nova Scotia, Canada, are now dedicated to its study and use. Predictably, the impact of geomatics on classroom teaching at the secondary level has…

Many high schools in the U.S. offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses in music theory for students wishing to study music at the college level. Others devote part of the music curriculum to theory and aural-skills instruction, but do not offer AP courses. In either case, high school theory and aural-skills courses typically strive to cover all, or…

This publication brings together much of the information one might need to understand and discuss higher education issues. While this publication does not attempt to answer every question that may come up in discussions about higher education, it highlights the most often-asked questions about institutions, faculty, students, costs, budgets,…

Online learning programs are designed to expand high-quality educational opportunities and to meet the needs of diverse students. While the primary reason online courses are offered in school districts is to expand offerings to courses that would otherwise be unavailable, the second most commonly cited reason for offering online learning is to…

An increasingly popular test format allows examinees to choose the items they will answer from among a larger set. When examinee choice is allowed fairness requires that the different test forms thus formed be equated for their possible differential difficulty. For this equating to be possible it is necessary to know how well examinees would have…

The various methods for computing the reliability of scores on Advanced Placement (AP) examinations are summarized. For the free response portion of the examinations, raters can contribute to score unreliability through both systematic severity errors (in which some raters consistently rate more severely than other raters) and through…

Advanced Placement Calculus examinations were administered to nearly 7,000 students in order to determine the impact of calculator use. Both experimental examinations had two sections. Section I items were designed so that a calculator was not needed, but approximately half of the students were permitted to use calculators. Section II items…

This study investigated the extent to which log-linear smoothing could improve the accuracy of common-item equating by the chained equipercentile method in small samples of examinees. Examinee response data from a 100-item test (the Advanced Placement Examination in United States History) were used to create two overlapping forms of 58 items each,…

Findings of a follow-up study that examined the experiences of the 1987 and 1988 graduates of the Center for the Arts and Sciences (CAS) program in Saginaw, Michigan, are presented in this paper. A survey mailed to a total of 78 program graduates, 36 from 1987 and 42 from 1988, elicited 21 responses, the majority of whom were from white females.…

The honors program at Chandler High School (Arizona) which combines the International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advanced Placement (AP) programs is described in this brochure. Following a general overview of IB and AP programs, several benefits of this combined program are listed: (1) small classes with superior students; (2) the opportunity to earn…

This study focused on potential pedagological uses of standardized placement exams. A sample of 250 exams of the May 1984 Biology Advanced Placement (AP) exam was obtained and student responses to the question on cell structure were analyzed. The frequency of particular responses to the question is listed and trends and patterns in the responses…

The results of the program of credit by examination at the University of Texas at Austin during the 1986-1987 testing year are presented. The data provide a basis for a comprehensive picture of the impact of the program on this campus. The examinations covered 51 subject areas with 171 courses taught in 36 departments/divisions in 8 colleges and…