ERIC Number: ED564301
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 36
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Does the Level of Rigor of a High School Science Course Matter? An Investigation of the Relationship between Science Courses and First-Year College Outcomes. Research Report 2014-2
Kaliski, Pamela K.; Godfrey, Kelly E.
College Board
The focus of this research is to evaluate the relationship between advanced high school science courses and college outcomes, with a focus on the benefit of Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) participation and performance in comparison to other high school options (e.g., dual enrollment, honors, and regular science high school courses). Although there is a plethora of previous research comparing achievement-related outcomes of AP participation with other levels of high school course participation (e.g., honors course participation, dual enrollment), there has yet to be a study that compares achievement-related outcomes of AP, honors, dual enrollment, and regular science courses when using a rigorous statistical model. Multilevel modeling was employed to account for the nested structure of the data (i.e., students nested within colleges), and several student-level and college-level covariates were included in the model to provide a stringent test of these relationships. Overall, results suggest that higher performance in advanced science course work (e.g., AP) in high school is related to higher first-year GPA and higher first-year science GPA; as such, teachers should encourage students to participate in advanced high school science course work when planning their curriculum for science learning.
Descriptors: Secondary School Science, High School Students, Science Instruction, Outcomes of Education, Advanced Placement Programs, Program Effectiveness, Honors Curriculum, Dual Enrollment, Conventional Instruction, Comparative Analysis, Statistical Analysis, Grade Point Average, College Students, Student Characteristics, Institutional Characteristics, Science Achievement, College Entrance Examinations, Scores, Student Records, Transcripts (Written Records), Questionnaires
College Board. 250 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10281. Tel: 212-713-8000; e-mail: research@collegeboard.org; Web site: http://research.collegeboard.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education; High Schools; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: College Board
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: SAT (College Admission Test)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A