Fitting item response models to data from 2 Advanced Placement exams (18,462 and 82,842 students) demonstrates that constructed response items add little to information provided by multiple choice and that scoring on the basis of student item selection gives almost as much information as scoring on the basis of answers. (SLD)

Five essays among those judged to be excellent in the 1995 Advanced Placement Examinations are presented. Each is a timed essay, and for each, the test question and time limit are given. Subject areas include art history, psychology, comparative government and politics, and English literature and composition. (MSE)

Presents five examples of the use of satellite technology in distance learning, including providing previously unavailable classes, interacting with teachers, and transmitting tests and returning graded work; partnerships between schools and community-based organizations; middle school and high school interaction; advanced placement classes; and…

Random samples of free-response tests (200 males and 200 females) were taken from the 1986 U.S. History advanced placement examination. Rescoring focusing on historical content and analyses indicate that free-response tasks, in contrast with objective tests, may have inherent characteristics that reward females' English-composition abilities. (SLD)

Some states are passing laws encouraging wider use of high school advanced placement courses and testing for college credit, with others offering less extensive support. Academic quality, competitiveness, and fiscal efficiency are objectives. Critics cite fairness questions and concerns about the appropriateness of skills tested by the equivalency…

Describes using a local college for the teaching of the recommended Advance Placement laboratories as a way to increase greatly needed course time and to increase the amount of equipment available. (PR)

Describes a project using city and town archives to explore important issues in U.S. history for Advanced Placement American history courses. Relates how town death, birth, or marriage records can be used by students as the stimuli for research projects on larger trends in demographic, social, or political history. (DSK)

Through evaluation of 73 eleventh-grade students over three years, explores the extent to which standardized test scores and other academic factors predict success on the Advanced Placement (AP) exam in U.S. history. Finds that standardized scores, grade point average, and anticipated college majors are closely related to AP success. (CMK)

Successful block scheduling depends on provision of initial and ongoing instructional training. Teaching strategies should vary and include cooperative learning, the case method, the socratic seminar, synectics, concept attainment, the inquiry method, and simulations. Recommendations for maximizing block scheduling are outlined. (Contains 52…

Advanced Placement brings into sharp focus the dilemma faced by middle, secondary and university teachers of American history. The search for an introductory synthesis stumbles more frequently these days because texts and curriculum frameworks all too often depend upon what Mary Fredrickson refers to as the tyranny of chronology. With extremely…

One indication that the lines between high schools and colleges are blurring is the growth in programs that permit students to earn college credit while still in high school. More than 250 educators and policymakers representing both the K-12 and higher education communities gathered on June 8-9, 2006 to discuss such "accelerated-learning…

United World College of the American West (UWC-USA) which was founded in 1982 by the Occidental Petroleum magnate and philanthropist, Armand Hammer, is an upper-secondary school with 200 students and two dozen faculty from 80 countries or more. Situated amid traditional Hispanic settlements in New Mexico's scenic Sangre de Cristo Mountains,…

This longitudinal study examined the effects of providing an accelerated mathematics curriculum in heterogeneously grouped middle school classes in a diverse suburban school district. A quasi-experimental cohort design was used to evaluate subsequent completion of advanced high school math courses as well as academic achievement. Results showed…

The Document-Based Question (DBQ) is an integral part of the United States History Advanced Placement Exam, and is required as part of an exam that also includes answering two general "free response" essays and a multiple choice question section. For the DBQ, students are given a question about a specific time period in American history,…

As the sponsors of the Cohort at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia--a program to increase the number of minority male students in Advanced Placement (AP) classes--the authors view their work with the young men in this program as very similar to coaching a team. The Cohort asks these young men to challenge and push themselves; to test…