The purpose of this study was to attempt to identify those factors that influence a high school student's success on the Advanced Placement (AP) Examinations by examining and comparing the variables contained in the high school records of former AP participants. A total of 248 high school students participated in the research. The criterion for…

This study compared performance of seniors at 21 Montgomery County (Maryland) high schools on the Advanced Placement (AP) Tests. The schools were ranked by the percentage of college-educated adults within the school boundaries, and the ranking was compared to Advanced Placement test results (the average number of students, per 100 seniors, who…

The major objectives and benefits of the Advanced Placement Program (APP) are summarized, and data specific to Delaware are compared to national statistics about advanced placement (AP) courses in high schools. School participation in the APP is considered an indicator of academic success by educators and policy makers. The extent to which…

Each year, African American high school students in grades 11 and 12 take the College Board/Educational Testing Service Advanced Placement (AP) Examinations. Large numbers of these students are not successful. Nationally, African Americans take a total of 13,844 examinations and 5,447 qualify for advanced placement. This means that 61 percent of…

Reports a study of gender differences in enrollment and performance of on the College Board's Advanced Placement Computer Science tests from 1984 through 1996. Although the gender gap in test performance has narrowed significantly over that period, the percentage of women taking the examinations has been consistently low. Argues that stronger…

This report builds on and extends existent research on population invariance to new tests and issues. The authors lay the foundation for a deeper understanding of the use of population invariance measures in a wide variety of practical contexts. The invariance of linear, equipercentile and IRT equating methods are examined using data from five…

This study evaluates the effects of the Advanced Placement (AP) Program in the lives of students and investigates the validity of the Advanced Placement Examinations at participating colleges and universities. Nine of the colleges and universities that received the most AP candidates in 1982 were selected for the study. The transcripts of a large…

Whether there is a difference in the performance of public school and private school students on the advanced placement (AP) tests of the College Board was studied. The sample was composed of 216 public high schools, 32 Catholic high schools, and 24 other private high schools in Northern California, all of which gave their students at least five…

Asserts that an Advanced Placement (AP) course in music theory offers student musicians opportunities to gain new insight into melody, harmony, and structure. Describes content and teaching methods used in an AP music theory program. Discusses necessary teacher characteristics and maintains that both students and teachers benefit from the course.…

The use of advanced placement in high school through the College Entrance Examination Board test and the offering of college courses for students at the high school level are considered. A survey of colleges and universities on the waiving of courses versus actual credit granting, the transferability of college credits earned while in high school,…

There is a strong and consistent relationship between PSAT/NMSQT scores and AP Examination grades for nearly all courses--higher scores on the PSAT/NMSQT indicate a higher probability of success on AP Examinations. PSAT/NMSQT verbal or mathematics scores are often more highly related to AP Examination grades than overall high school GPA, number of…

What are ways to encourage minority students and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds to take and succeed in AP classes? Advanced Placement courses and their final national standardized exams began in 1954 to help students, mostly white males, get through college more quickly so that they would have more time in the work force. 50 years later,…

Students with high scores (top third) on the essay portion of an Advanced Placement Examination (AP) (College Board) and low scores (bottom third) on the multiple-choice portion of the same examination were compared with students whose performance showed the opposite pattern. Across examinations in different subject areas (history, English, and…

This paper describes an exploratory study in which three groups of Latina and Latino high school students, previously identified as "at risk," performed at a level of "giftedness" after an instructional intervention grounded on the theoretical orientations of cultural discontinuity and self-efficacy. A total of 29…

The dimensional structure of the 1987 Advanced Placement (AP) French language examination was tested in four populations using a series of confirmatory linear factor analysis models. To mitigate problems with the linear factor analysis of multiple choice items, the linear factor analysis of item parcel scores, made of small mutually exclusive…