Describes a three-week summer institute for high school social studies teachers, held at Rutgers University in 1987, which was intended to prepare teachers for the advanced placement course and examination in political science. Covers institute planning, participant recruitment, institute course content, final evaluation, and follow-up on the…

A college faculty member who has graded Advanced Placement exam essays on U.S. government and politics, taken mostly by high school juniors and seniors, suggests that high school teachers and college faculty who assess the essays are not the best qualified persons to do so and that despite efforts to ensure consistency, the resulting scores are…

A faculty consultant to the Educational Testing Service for advanced placement (AP) test reading in U.S. government and politics responds to an article criticizing essay evaluation methods and criteria, finding in it a fundamental misunderstanding of the AP reading process and explaining why the essays are subject to less scrutiny for style,…