In 2013 , more than 2.2 million educatee sharpen their No . 2 pencils and sit for an Advanced Placement exam — and if maturation trend are any indicant , even more will do so this year . [ PDF ] But with oculus on their future ( and nose deep in their textbooks ) , today ’s pupil do n’t think of the decades of test - takers who came before them . While current college admissions press have put increased importance on the AP program in recent years , the College Board has been rack — uh , enriching — scholar since 1955 .
So , who bug out the AP program ? How has it changed since the 1950s ? And — the million dollar sign head — is it effectual ? Read closely — there will be a quiz .
Bridging the Gap
accord to the College Board , the first study was conducted by pedagogue from three prep schools — Andover , Exeter , and Lawrenceville — and three colleges — Harvard , Princeton , and Yale . The report advocate high school and colleges to regard themselves as " two halves of a mutual enterprise " and recommended that " junior-grade school recruit imaginative teachers , that they encourage high school seniors to engage in sovereign study and college - level work , and that achievement exams be used to earmark student to enter college with advanced standing " ( namely , some completed eruditeness ) . Sound familiar ?
In the second study , the Committee on Admission with Advanced Standing worked to get college - floor curriculum that students could jump into during their final twelvemonth ( or years ) in gamey school day . Their challenge lay in create high school course and follow assessment tests that colleges would deem rigorous enough to be desirable of cite toward a degree . Both studies made one thing very clear : high school and colleges needed to exploit together so as to keep off coursework repeat and to allow for motivated students with a intriguing curriculum that will allow them to transition easily to college .
In 1952 , a cowcatcher program consist of advanced courses in 11 open domain was set in motion . And in the 1955 - 56 schooltime twelvemonth , the College Board ( a " mission - driven not - for - profit organization " found in 1900 ) take over the programme ’s administration , renaming it the College Board Advanced Placement Program .
The AP Program Grows
That first year , 104 high school and 130 colleges participate in the College Board ’s AP program , with 1229 bookman taking 2199 exam across the 11 disciplines . In the following decennium , the College Board worked to enlarge its program . In the 1960s , they focus on training high schoolhouse teachers in the new program . And in the eighties and 1990s , the College Board work to get more minority and low - income students in AP course of study . Their sweat must have work , because more and more students across all income levels take AP classes every yr . [ PDF ]
By the 2012 - 2013 schooling class , 18,920 high-pitched school and 4027 colleges participated in the AP syllabus . And the number of student ballooned to 2,218,578 taking a total of 3,938,100 tests across 34 subjects . That ’s 33.2 per centum of high schoolhouse students , as compared to 18.9 percent in 2003 .
The Ford Foundation and the College Board set out to create a programme that would make the transition from mellow school to college easier for scholar , and , more than five decennary later , they ’ve established a monster of an initiation . But they did accomplish their original destination ?
The College Board , for one , seems to reckon so . In the 2007 subject area " AP Students in College : An Analysis of Five - Year Trends , " [ PDF ] Rick Morgan and John Karic found that scholarly person who seduce a 3 or higher on their AP tests achieve better grades in average college courses than scholar who had take an introductory course of study but did not take part in the AP program in high school . And scholarly person who score 5s on their AP exams did much better than their non - AP - direct peer . Morgan and Karic also found that AP students graduate before than non - AP educatee .
like study , however , have proved less conclusive . In " The Relationship Between AP Exam Performance and College Outcomes " ( 2009 ) , Krista Mattern , Emily Shaw , and Xinhui Xiong had similar results to Morgan and Karic , but also found that , when controlling for both SAT piles and high school grade point average , AP scholarly person did not earn high first year GPAs than students who did not take AP test . They chalk this up to one of two things : Either high-pitched achieving students ( quantified by SAT grade and high school GPA ) will get good grades in college regardless of AP participation , or non - AP educatee enroll in less stringent college course of study ( which are sluttish to get good grades in ) .
" In sum , these results suggest that participation in an AP Exam may well prepare bookman for the more tight academic need of college - level workplace , " Mattern , Shaw , and Xiong conclude . " Nevertheless , it is possible that other factors beyond anterior academic operation contribute to the group difference . " [ PDF ]
The AP Program Today
While it ’s obvious the AP program ’s popularity — meaning its involution stats — has raise exponentially since its inception , critical reception of the programme varies . Educators , parents , and students ( much like the program ’s founders and the aforementioned researcher ) ask whether " teaching to an examination " is an effective mode of Education Department . Therefore , in an attempt to stay ahead of the literary criticism , the College Board constantly reevaluates and shift its offering .
The AP courses and test are developed bycommitteesof college faculty members and AP teachers . keep in mind the finding of the founders ' initial studies , the gamey schoolhouse and college mental faculty work together to delimit scope and expectations of the course , the curriculum framework , and the knowledge and skill students will need to acquire in edict to score well on the exam . And if a course or exam needs rescript , the commission work backwards from their achievement goals ( what do we want our students to take away from this ? ) to make changes .
With trial available in 34 subject areas in the 2013 - 2014 school twelvemonth — and two novel Physics exams planned for next year and changes to the Art account and European History test pose to roll out in 2015 - 2016 — the AP computer program ’s oblation has tripled since the 1952 pilot program . And encounter as enrollment has doubled in the past 10 years , it seems safe to say that your children ’s child ( and their small fry , and their children ) will be loading their high school schedules with AP classes .
Because nothing says " I ’m ready for college " like a twelvemonth or two ’s worth of Red Bull- and candy - fire cram session .
