Personalized assessments are of increasing interest because of their potential to lead to more equitable decisions about the examinees. However, one obstacle to the widespread use of personalized assessments is the lack of a measurement toolkit that can be used to analyze data from these assessments. This article takes one step toward building…

This case study explored how a teacher, Ms. Walter, and her students experienced a unit of study on market structures in an Advanced Placement (AP) Microeconomics course. We employed qualitative research methods, drawing on the work of Nuthall and Alton-Lee, to connect students' experiences of classroom instruction to their reasoning on an…

Advanced placement (AP) and concurrent enrollment (CE) provide high school students with rigorous coursework and possible college credit. Theoretical modeling predicted students would substitute CE for AP courses conditional on their probability of earning university credit, passing AP tests, and college selectivity despite CE costing more than…

This paper uses Advanced Placement (AP) exams to examine how receiving college credit in high school alters students' subsequent human capital investment. Using data from one large state, I link high school students to postsecondary transcripts from in-state, public institutions. I estimate causal impacts using a regression discontinuity that…

This study explores classification consistency and accuracy for mixed-format tests using real and simulated data. In particular, the current study compares six methods of estimating classification consistency and accuracy for seven mixed-format tests. The relative performance of the estimation methods is evaluated using simulated data. Study…

In contrast to the experience of other professional fields, the percentage of women in computer science has decreased substantially in recent decades. This phenomenon is a significant and growing problem in a society where new technologies impact nearly every facet of life, including criminal justice and health care. This study examines whether…

The formal opportunity to learn geography in the United States is unevenly distributed across space, creating possible geography deserts. Data on the number of exams taken in Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG) and bachelor's degrees earned in geography are mapped at the state and regional scales. Normalized rates are ranked and grouped into…

Too often research studies on Black boys emanate from deficit orientations and take a problem-centered approach that overemphasizes stereotypes or pathologizes Black male students, overlooking their aspirations and successes. Utilizing the High School Longitudinal Survey of 2009 (HSLS: 09), we examined the postsecondary goals of rural Black male…

The century-old College Entrance Examination Board (College Board) sponsors, develops, and administers standardized testing programs, most famously the "SAT suite of tests," which includes the SAT college admission test and the "pre-SAT," or PSAT, and the more than thirty Advanced- Placement (AP) courses and exams that…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of implementing a unique and systematized version of curriculum planning and documenting across all levels of a Pre-K-Grade 12, US-curriculum, and international school in the Dominican Republic. Based on the Backwards by Design philosophy, cemented with a standards-based approach highlighting…

We examined the variation in Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE) preclass scores according to the type of physics class a student had in high school. This was done for students who had taken Physics 1 at a highly selective university. The majority of students had taken an Advanced Placement (AP) physics course, allowing us to examine in…

This empirical study analyzed data from 638 teachers and 11,800 students in low-socioeconomic status (SES) urban schools (and schools with urban characteristics) exploring associations of school, teacher, teaching, and professional development characteristics toward student performance on the revised Advanced Placement (AP) Biology and AP…

Is in-depth political learning possible in college-preparatory courses known for curricular breadth at an accelerated pace plus a high-stakes exam? A multidisciplinary research team conducted design-based implementation research (DBIR) for seven years across three school systems for the purpose of achieving deeper learning in an 'advanced' high…

In this investigation, the authors analyzed the cost effectiveness of receiving passing scores for Black students on Advanced Placement exams in three states (Texas, New York, and Florida) for a 16-year period (e.g., 1997 through 2012). College Board data were downloaded and analyzed for all Advanced Placement exams for Black students in these…

Four New Jersey school districts worked together to increase student achievement by applying a number of strategies focused on getting traditionally underrepresented students to take more AP courses. The districts are members of the New Jersey Network of Superintendents (NJNS), comprising 15 superintendents who work together to develop systemwide…