Teachers and students are being held to higher expectations due to national educational policies. Because of large class sizes, teachers at the case study site have elevated workloads to prepare students for International Baccalaureate (IB) exams. The study aimed to better understand how teachers create feedback for student success. The feedback…

This brief examines the findings of a study conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California examining a project-based approach to Advanced Placement courses. The randomized study found the proportion of students earning a credit-qualifying score on the AP test was 8 percentage points higher in the project-based version of the…

This paper presents an action research study as part of a Dissertation in Practice. Based on observations from the classroom of the participant-researcher, Problem of Practice is described: an over-reliance on teacher-centered instructional methods and the mismatch of these instructional techniques to the pedagogy endorsed by the International…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) has long played a substantial, though controversial, role within America's public schools. While supporters argue that CTE may increase student engagement and prepare students for success in the workforce, detractors caution that CTE may inhibit students' access to the rigorous academic coursework needed for…

Ensuring equal access to a broad and balanced curriculum for all students is a key component of a socially just education system. Yet in England, the freedom that 16-year-old students have to choose the GCSE subjects they study has created divisions in the pathways taken by students from different backgrounds. In 2010, a new accountability…

Over the years, the nation's large urban school districts have consistently learned from the progress of their peer districts across the country. Great City School districts that have embraced the challenge of educating America's urban children have recognized the value of benchmarking their performance and growth against the progress of others.…

This paper considers an unavoidable feature of the school environment, class rank. What are the long run effects of a student's ordinal rank in elementary school? Using administrative data from all public school students in Texas, we show that students with a higher third grade academic rank, conditional on achievement and classroom fixed effects,…

This study assesses the excellence gap by examining those who enroll in advanced, honors, and advanced placement (AP) classes among a low-income and a majority-Latinx population. Prospective longitudinal data come from a diverse, urban sample (N = 32,885) where 82.2% of the students received free or reduced price lunch. We examined numerous…

The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to examine the relationship among student achievement factors, gifted and talented status and post-secondary readiness. The study included a review of archived data obtained from a large district in the southeastern region of Texas consisting of a purposeful sample of AP students' who took an…

This memorandum provides information on Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) course enrollment, exam participation, and exam performance during the 2021-2022 school year in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). The College Board shifted their testing procedures in 2019-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the…

This study provides an evaluation of the impact of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme introduced in 2006 to 200 public schools in Ecuador. Using a combination of different methodologies in order to have a credible identification strategy, we find that the International Baccalaureate Diploma has a positive impact on academic…

The School District of Osceola County, Florida, invests heavily in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, and as such, an evaluation of effects was conducted with a sample of 10 middle schools (12,325 students) and 7 high schools (18,886 students). Propensity matching was used to determine practical effects. Providing…

The problem under examination is the course success of High School students in Face-to Face and Blended classroom environments. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the participation and performances of Face-to-Face and Blended high school students in different classes. Students' achievement and participation in Face-to-Face and…

The purpose of this study was to explore the academic performance of entering college students in their first enrolled college English course by comparing students who entered with prior college English coursework earned through Dual Enrollment, with prior college English coursework earned through another accelerated mechanism such as AP or IB,…

The Advanced Placement® Program (AP®) offers high school students the opportunity to take rigorous coursework in high school and receive college credit for AP Exam scores that meet or exceed the requirements of their attending institution. Students receiving AP credit are typically exempted from an introductory-level course or series of courses…