In US-based postsecondary education, first-year students commonly have their compositional ability consequentially assessed on the basis of standardized tests. As a result, students who score above certain thresholds on ACT, SAT, or AP exams often are placed into honors or remedial courses; receive credit remissions; and/or test out of general…

A quiet revolution is picking up steam in the nation's private secondary schools, with broad implications for college admissions and for teaching and learning on both sides of the transition from high school to college. About 50 of the nation's leading college-preparatory schools have opted out of the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP)…

Discusses the debates concerning (1) content and process in social studies and history and (2) testing and standards in California, noting that Advanced Placement (AP) courses demand a high scholarly standard. Focuses on the AP European history course and examination, addressing history as interpretation, teaching analytical essay writing, and AP…

Through evaluation of 73 eleventh-grade students over three years, explores the extent to which standardized test scores and other academic factors predict success on the Advanced Placement (AP) exam in U.S. history. Finds that standardized scores, grade point average, and anticipated college majors are closely related to AP success. (CMK)

A one-year follow-up study of a 1988 report on Wisconsin's internal "brain drain" indicates that the state's historic educational advantage is shrinking. Assessment of performance on the American College Testing Program (ACT), the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) reveals that scores are…

New data are presented on the academic preparation of college-bound students by discipline area and ethnic group, average college entrance examination scores (Scholastic Assessment Test--SAT and American College Testing--ACT) by gender and ethnic group, proportion of test takers and ethnic groups, and advanced placement candidates by gender and…